• By KORAN ADDO
• Advocate Westside bureau
• Published: Jun 9, 2009 - UPDATED: 12:15 p.m.

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PLAQUEMINE — A former Iberville Parish School Board member was forcibly restrained and arrested Monday night in the School Board office after a scuffle with Plaquemine police.

Janice Anderson, a School Board member in the 1980s and 1990s was booked on counts of resisting an officer, simple damage to property and remaining after forbidden, all misdemeanor charges.

A video of the arrest shows Anderson removing a picture of herself from a wall in the School Board hallway about an hour after the 6 p.m. meeting.

Here’s what else the videotape else shows:
Anderson took the picture into a room out of sight of the camera and remained there for several minutes.

When she re-entered the hallway, Anderson is seen in talking to Plaquemine Police Det. Chad Fonseca.

After a few seconds facing each other, Fonseca motioned for Anderson to walk toward an exit. Anderson turned toward the exit but did not immediately leave the building. Seconds later, Fonseca grabbed Anderson’s arm.

With Anderson facing the exit and Fonseca holding her arm, Anderson turned toward the officer, who then spun Anderson around and pushed her against a wall.

They tussled for several seconds moving from one side of the hallway to the other as Fonseca tried to handcuff Anderson.

Moments later, two other officers ran into the hallway from outside and together the three officers subdued Anderson and handcuffed her.

After the arrest, Anderson said late Monday that she was taken to the Plaquemine Police Department and booked, while several members of North Iberville Concerned Citizens, a group opposing the planned closure of North Iberville High School, stood outside demanding Anderson’s release.

When Anderson was released at 8:45 p.m., she said she took her picture off the wall because the current School Board is “out of control,” and could be doing better by the parish’s children.

After Superintendent Ed Cancienne told Anderson the picture is School Board property, Anderson said police officers “went ballistic,” and slammed her against a wall.

As for the scuffle, Anderson said she was defending herself against several officers trying to harm her.