Former deputy sentenced for suspect beating found dead www.privateofficer.com

 

 

SALEM, AL Feb 29 2012 – Officials tells News Leader 9 a former Russell County sheriff’s deputy sentenced earlier this year for beating a handcuffed man has been found dead.

Lee County Coroner Bill Harris was called to the scene and Kirby Dollar was pronounced dead Monday outside a home on Lee Road 201 in Salem.

Harris says 38-year old Dollar was found in his driveway with a gunshot wound to the chest.

Dollar and another deputy, Tim Watford, were recently sentenced after being found guilty of beating Patrick Harrington.

Kirby Dollar was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison and was ordered to pay restitution to Harrington. Dollar accepted a plea deal and pled guilty in August to avoid going to trial.

Watford was sentenced to 34 months in prison and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution.

The men were convicted last year for the deprivation of rights under the color of law.

Authorities say Harrington was found in November 2010 by a bail bondsmen. Harrington said Dollar and Watford arrived at the scene and beat him.

Dollar was supposed to report to federal prison Monday afternoon to start serving his sentence.

Source:WTVM

Two former Alabama Sheriff’s deputies sentenced to prison for beating of handcuffed man www.privateofficer.com

 

WASHINGTON DC Jan 9 2012–Two former Alabama Sheriff’s deputies were sentenced Friday in federal court for participating in the beating of a handcuffed man who was taken into custody.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark Fuller sentenced Kirby Dollar, 37, to 46 months in prison and Timothy Watford, 42, to 34 months in prison.

Dollar pleaded guilty on Aug.11 to willfully depriving the victim of his constitutional right to be free from the use of excessive force. Watford was convicted of the same charge by a federal jury sitting in Opelika, Ala., on Sept, 1, 2011, following a three day trial.

Evidence presented during the court proceedings established that Dollar and Watford, while acting in their capacity as law enforcement officers, punched, kicked and slapped the victim, who was lying on the ground in handcuffs and offering no resistance. The victim suffered multiple lacerations, facial fractures and a ruptured eardrum. Dollar admitted, and witnesses during Watford’s trial confirmed, that the attack was entirely unprovoked.

“These convictions and sentences demonstrate that the use of excessive force cannot be tolerated,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The vast majority of police officers do an outstanding job in protecting both the community and the rights of the accused, even in stressful situations. But when police officers use excessive force topunish arrestees, they will be held accountable.”

“As well intended as some officers may be, police activity must remain within constitutional bounds,” said George L. Beck Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama. “Let these two convictions and sentences serve as examples of bad conduct that will be prosecuted by this office. Emotions cannot overcome good judgment. Zealousness cannot overcome good training. And brutality can never be a substitute for effective law enforcement.”

FBI’s Special Agent in Charge Lewis M. Chapman stated, “Today’s sentencing of former Russell County Deputies Kirby Dollar and Tim Watford brings some closure to a breach of trust by law enforcement officers. Law enforcement officers must always act within the bounds of the law under any circumstance and particularly while safeguarding our communities and citizens. The investigation of Civil Rights violations continues to be one of the FBI’s top priorities; and, these sentences reaffirm our commitment to enforcing those standards on ourselves and the law enforcement community.”

The case was investigated by the Mobile Division of the FBI- Montgomery Office and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Russell County Sheriff’s Office, the Lee County Alabama Sheriff’s Office and the Columbus, Ga., Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nathan D. Stump and Jared H. Morris and Trial Attorney Benjamin J. Hawk of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.