TALLASSEE, Ala. (AP) — A former Alabama police officer has been sentenced to prison for slamming a compliant handcuffed man into the ground and then slamming the man’s head into his patrol car.
News outlets report 27-year-old Michael Brandon Smirnoff was sentenced Thursday to 22 months in prison. Smirnoff pleaded guilty in April to federal excessive force charges.
A U.S. Department of Justice statement says the former Tallassee investigator was pursuing a fleeing man in 2016 when the man surrendered, laid face down on the ground and was handcuffed. Authorities say Smirnoff then lifted the man into the air and repeatedly slammed him into the ground before slamming the man’s head into his cruiser.
Smirnoff faced up to 10 years in prison.
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