ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- Two corrections deputies in St. Landry Parish have been arrested for allegedly injuring a 73-year-old inmate, according to the sheriff's office.

The deputies, identified as John Smith and Hayden Aymond, were arrested following an investigation initiated after a report from Opelousas General Hospital. The report suggested that the injuries sustained by the inmate were possibly inflicted by the officers.

"The initial findings were sufficient to warrant the termination and arrest of Mr. Smith and Mr. Aymond," said Major Mark LeBlanc of the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office.

LeBlanc explained that the investigation involved detectives and personnel specializing in various areas, including those experienced in dealing with elderly victims.

"The investigation was immediately launched utilizing detectives and personnel who are specialists in various areas, not to mention corrections dealing with elderly victims, etc.," he said.

Smith faces charges of cruelty to a person with infirmities, failure to seek assistance and malfeasance in office. Aymond is charged with failure to seek assistance and malfeasance in office.

LeBlanc emphasized the commitment of the sheriff's office to uphold high standards.

"The level of training that everyone at this agency receives is absolutely on a highest level," LeBlanc said. "Despite all of that, humans fail when humans fail, especially involving their work within this agency. We're going to do everything we can to seek the truth, as the sheriff stated, and find out exactly what happened and then take the necessary corrective action."

Although arrests have been made, the investigation into the incident is ongoing, according to LeBlanc.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KLFY. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KLFY staff before being published.

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