BATON ROUGE — Troy Lawrence Jr., a former Baton Rouge police officer implicated in previous complaints about the notorious Brave Cave, faces charges including battery of a dating partner by strangulation, simple battery, aggravated assault and simple criminal damage to property.

According to an arrest warrant Monday, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office was called to a home on Richardson Drive around 11 p.m. on Saturday for a reported domestic disturbance.

The victim's brother told deputies Lawrence grabbed the woman by her neck and strangled her. Lawrence then threw her on the bed and repeatedly punched her in the face with a closed fist, according to the arrest warrant.

The brother said he got between them, and Lawrence bumped into him on his way out of the room.

The warrant says Lawrence then pulled out a black 9mm handgun and pointed it at the brother and the woman's 3-year-old daughter before driving off in a silver sedan.

When they arrived on scene, deputies observed pieces of the door hinge on the floor next to the bed. The victim had a large lump on the left side of her forehead and a large abrasion on her lip and nose, both with controlled bleeding.

Lawrence Jr. had been arrested previously, in 2023, for simple battery. He is also named in the ongoing "Brave Cave" lawsuit, which alleges Lawrence and other members of BRPD's now-defunct Street Crimes unit physically abused suspects inside of a makeshift interrogation facility.

Lawrence left BRPD in 2023.

In the arrest warrant filed after Saturday's call to deputies, the brother said Lawrence had left the woman's home upset and then returned a short time later. After the woman took refuge in her bedroom, the ex-officer allegedly kicked the door in, knocking the woman and her daughter to the floor.

The deputy who prepared the arrest warrant said Lawrence initially agreed to meet with investigators but later asked to be read his rights over the phone. After that request was refused, Lawrence asked to make a statement over the phone. That was refused, too. After saying he wanted to talk to a lawyer first, Lawrence did not meet with deputies, the affidavit says.