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A former officer with the Elkhart Police Department was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for his role in assaulting a handcuffed detainee, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.
Joshua Titus, 34, was sentenced about 10 months after his co-defendant, Cory Newland, received a 15-month sentence for his role in the same incident.
Titus also received one year of supervised release.
Titus and Newland both pleaded guilty to their respective roles in the assault, and both were sentenced by Indiana Northern District Judge Phillip Simon.
Surveillance video showed the two former officers punching the handcuffed suspect after the man spit on one of them at the Elkhart police station in January 2018. According to court documents, they punched the man about 10 times in the face and body.
They were indicted in March 2019.
“To have effective law enforcement, the public must be confident that the officers will perform their duties consistently, within the boundaries of the constitution and federal law,” Indiana Northern District U.S. Attorney Clifford Johnson said in a statement. “Instead of honoring their duties by protecting and serving the public, these defendants engaged in criminal behavior. When this happens, my office will fulfill our duties by vigorously prosecuting those officers.”
Titus and Newland also faced state charges, but the Elkhart County prosecutor dropped those charges in May 2019 so the federal case against them could proceed.
In Indianapolis, a police officer who pleaded guilty to kicking a handcuffed man in the face also received a sentence in September of one year and one day in federal prison.
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