Worker accused of masturbating in Tulane University office sues after campus police shot him

He can’t get no satisfaction.

A man shot by campus police last year is suing Tulane University for alleged civil rights violations and use of excessive force when they tried to arrest him after a former coworker said he had been forced to watch his colleague masturbate.

Taivon Aples' lawsuit, filed Sept. 8 in U.S. District Court, seeks damages for pain and suffering, mental anguish and emotional distress, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported Monday.

Campus police contend that a cop opened fired only after Aples began driving a car at them.

According to campus police, the 28-year-old Aples arrived at the office suite of Sodexo, the university’s dining service, on Aug. 23, 2019, and told an employee he was picking up a paycheck.

When the employee walked to his office, Aples followed him, the Times-Picayune said, then exposed himself and started masturbating. When the employee moved to call police, Aples told him “not to [expletive] do anything” and the employee hung up, fearing for his safety, the newspaper said.

Aples finished the deed and fled.

Two weeks later, Aples went to pick up what he said was “his last paycheck” and allegedly panicked when a truck tried to block him. His young son was in the car, but that didn’t stop campus cops from pouring out of a van with drawn guns, the Times-Picayune reported at the time.

He drove toward them, and they started shooting, the newspaper reported, citing court documents. Hit in the abdomen – his child uninjured – Aples drove away but crashed into another vehicle less than a mile way.

A passing motorist drove Aples and the child to the hospital.