Former Kentucky police officer guilty in excessive force case sentenced to 18 months
A former Kentucky police officer accused of using excessive force on a suspect while trying to help two other officers subdue him has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.
Shawn K. Curry, 36, pleaded guilty to a charge of violating the victim’s right to be free from excessive force.
Curry was a patrolman with the Manchester Police Department when the incident happened in September 2021.
Curry and other officers responded to a call about a man fighting with the owner of a pool hall. The man was high on LSD and resisted efforts by police to arrest him, according to court records.
A Manchester officer ultimately threw him to the floor, and a Kentucky State Police trooper struck him to try to subdue him, according to a sentencing memorandum from defense attorneys Jarrod J. Beck and Brandon Storm.
When Curry approached, the other officers had the suspect down. But instead of putting handcuffs on him, Curry grabbed the suspect by the hair and punched him five times in the face, the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Zach Dembo, said in a sentencing memo.
“All (Curry) had to do was to cuff the victim’s hands and no confrontation was necessary, but rather than preventing confrontation, he greatly escalated it,” Dembo said.
Curry also lied about the incident later.
Security cameras at the poll hall recorded the incident, and people shared it widely on social media, leading to the federal investigation, according to the court record.
Sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of 18-24 months in prison.
Attorneys for Curry advocated for a sentence of probation with community service, pointing to his service as an emergency medical technician, a deputy sheriff and a police officer with an unblemished record until the pool hall incident.
“His conduct in this case is a clear outlier from a life otherwise spent doing some of the most difficult work possible the right way,” defense attorneys wrote.
Dembo, the prosecutor, said the victim in the case took actions that caused Curry to be angry and frustrated.
“However, the requirement that law enforcement officers must treat every suspect equally, and that they remain calm in the face of provocation, is one of the many reasons that we rightfully celebrate them as pillars of our community,” Dembo said.
When police willfully deprive citizens of rights, they poison trust in law enforcement, the fair functioning of the justice system and the reputation of other officers, Dembo said.
U.S. District Judge Robert E. Wier sentenced Curry Dec. 11.
