Police officer jailed for eight years for beating handcuffed suspect

Prosecutors said Eric Gonzalez subjected the prisoner to a 'savage beating'

Los Angeles Sheriff's Main jail facility (AP)

A former Los Angeles police officer has been jailed for eight years for his role in the beating of a handcuffed man, marking the first sentence in a brutality case since the FBI began an investigation.

Prosecutors said Eric Gonzalez, formally of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, supervised the “savage beating” of Gabriel Carrillo in February 2011 and falsified reports to cover it up.

Gonzalez, 49, was convicted by a Los Angeles federal jury in June of conspiracy to violate constitutional rights, deprivation of rights and falsification of records, the Associated Press said.

(AP)

His lawyers argued that he was an exemplary deputy working in a dangerous environment where excessive force is “perhaps inevitable”.

They had requested no more than two-and-a-half years in federal prison.

Four other deputies have also been convicted and await sentencing on November 30, and a sixth pleaded not guilty Friday to participating in the cover-up. The convictions were part of a federal investigation of civil rights abuses and corruption at the nation’s largest sheriff's department.

Mr Carrillo was attacked after guards found him carrying a cellphone in the waiting area, in violation of jail regulations. Prosecutors said that during the 45-second assault in a private break room, Mr Carrillo was thrown to the ground, while handcuffed with both hands behind his back, then punched and pepper-sprayed.

Defence lawyers argued that only one of Mr Carrillo’s wrists were cuffed, and that he had used the other cuff as a weapon against deputies, resulting in a legitimate use of force.