Shevoy Brown (Credit: Fulton County Sheriff's Office)
HAPEVILLE, Ga. - A federal judge sentenced former Hapeville police officer Shevoy Brown to three years and one month in prison on Wednesday for repeatedly tasing a handcuffed detainee.
What we know:
A judge handed down the prison sentence on Wednesday to the 31-year-old former officer. Brown will also face two years of supervised release after completing his prison term.
A federal jury previously convicted Brown of using unreasonable force and writing a false report on Feb. 26. Federal prosecutors stated that the former officer attempted to obstruct justice by falsifying records to conceal the assault.
The backstory:
On June 3, 2024, Hapeville police officers arrested a man for trespassing at an apartment complex.
According to prosecutors, officers took the man to police headquarters, where they handcuffed him to a bench inside a small holding cell.
Trial evidence showed that Brown entered the cell twice and tased the cooperative detainee at least six times, including in the genitals. Officials noted the man posed no threat to anyone.
Brown reportedly stopped the abuse only after another officer stepped in to intervene. The victim suffered injuries that required emergency medical attention and left the police station in an ambulance.
Following the attack, Brown wrote a fraudulent police report to minimize his actions and justify the force. He claimed he tased the man twice for compliance because the victim was kicking a cell door and window.
Official evidence proved the victim never kicked anything and had stopped hitting the window before the officer walked inside. Brown also left out the fact that the victim was handcuffed to a bench and tased four extra times.
What they're saying:
U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg called Brown’s actions a violation of the Constitution.
"Brown willfully violated our Constitution by abusing his power to violently and unnecessarily assault a man in his custody. He then made matters worse by writing a false report in a failed effort to obstruct any investigation of the matter," said Hertzberg.
What we don't know:
Federal officials have not stated when or where Brown will report to begin serving his federal prison sentence. It also remains unconfirmed if any other local department employees faced administrative discipline regarding the holding cell incident.
Previous stories
- Hapeville officer stripped older man, tased him repeatedly in jail cell, attorney says
- Former Hapeville officer arraigned for excessive force in Taser incident
The Source: The information in this article was gathered from a release by the United States Department of Justice for the Northern District of Georgia.