Brickbat: Baton Bashing

Former Los Angeles police officer Juan Anthony Carrillo was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to depriving a person's rights under the color of law. Carrillo arrived to assist another officer who had detained a man walking on the grounds of the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center at 4 a.m. Prosecutors say the man was holding a clear glass pipe that the officer suspected was drug paraphernalia. Carrillo struck the man with his baton 45 times in about 41 seconds, leaving the man with cuts on both legs and a broken bone in his foot. Carrillo, who was about 60 pounds heavier than the man, continued to beat him even after he was completely still.