A Louisiana pediatrician has been arrested Wednesday and charged with punching and verbally assaulting a Southern University student while walking near the LSU Lakes, authorities said.
What We Know:
- The pediatrician, known by police as Shane McKinney (54), was charged with simple battery, Baton Rouge police stated. McKinney works as a pediatric emergency medicine doctor located at Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital in Baton Rouge.
- Ryan Cross, a spokesperson for the hospital system, stated Thursday that McKinney had been placed on unpaid leave pending an investigation. The hospital mentioned in a statement:
“We take the allegations placed against one of our physicians seriously and understand their gravity.”
- L’Jean McKneely Jr., Baton Rouge police spokesman, stated that a 22-year-old Black woman, who is not only a student but part of the Southern University’s track team, was walking along the lakes near Louisiana State University campus Monday at about 6:55 p.m. when a man punched her in the chest and verbally attacked her.
- “The suspect quickly ran away from the area after the incident occurred,” McKneely mentioned in a statement this week that included a picture of the suspect.
- Southern University’s athletic department director, Roman Banks, said Tuesday that the school believes the incident was racially motivated. Southern is a historically Black university.
- McKneely mentioned that the student told police that her attacker yelled racial words at her. Yet, the police did not have enough evidence to prove that the disturbance was racially motivated.
- Trayvean Scott, the university’s deputy athletic administrator, mentioned in an interview Thursday that the school stands by its earlier statement based on the student’s accounts and a witness, both of whom he declined to identify.
McKinney was released on his pledge late Wednesday, an East Baton Rouge Parish Prison official said. It is still not known whether he has an attorney. He did not return a request for comment Thursday.
