BRPD officer arrested for domestic violence allegedly threatened to shoot victim, hit them in the face with gun

BATON ROUGE – A Baton Rouge police officer was arrested Wednesday morning for a domestic violence incident from September 2022. 

According to arrest paperwork, BRPD officer Michael Mitchell got in a fight with a woman he was seeing when he accused her of cheating on Sept. 25. Mitchell allegedly pointed his department-issued handgun at her and threatened to kill her. Documents say Mitchell then hit her in the face with the gun, causing a cut above her eye. 

The victim then went to a hospital and was treated for her wound. A witness to the incident told officers that the victim lied to doctors and did not tell them how she was injured. 

Arrest paperwork says another witness was present just before the fight and they saw Mitchell draw his gun and walk toward the victim. 

Officers say while looking through the victim’s phone, they saw messages from Mitchell saying he threatened to shoot the victim and instructed her to lie to doctors about how she got the cut above her eye. 

Mitchell was booked for domestic abuse battery with a deadly weapon, domestic abuse aggravated assault and malfeasance in office. 

Mitchell has been with BRPD for three years and is currently a uniform patrol officer. He has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal affairs investigation.