Two Years for Police Chief Who Beat Prisoner

Turnabout is fair play

WASHINGTON, D. C.—A former Southwest Georgia police chief was sentenced Monday to prison after a judge decided he violated the civil rights of a pretrial detainee.

54-year-old Walter Young, the former police chief of the Omega Police Department was sentenced to 2 years in federal prison after jail surveillance video showed he assaulted the detainee by slapping and punching him in the head and face repeatedly while he was fully restrained in a restraint chair. 

"There was no excuse for this use of force on a restrained individual and excessive force by those sworn to uphold the law will not be tolerated. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute law enforcement officers who violate the constitutional rights of others," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.