Former St. Louis officer sentenced for beating suspect

ST. LOUIS -- A former St. Louis police detective who admitted beating a handcuffed suspect has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison for a civil-rights violation.

Thomas A. Carroll pleaded guilty in April to a felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law, admitting he denied the victim his constitutional freedom from unreasonable force by a law enforcer. Carroll was sentenced Wednesday to four years and four months in prison, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Authorities said Carroll was on duty in July 2014 when he assaulted the man, identified in court papers only as "M.V.," near St. Louis' Busch Stadium after the man was found to have a credit card belonging to Carroll's daughter that had been stolen from her car. The victim claimed he suffered chipped teeth, a bloodied lip and badly bruised ribs.

At the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey told Carroll it was "not a good day" for the Constitution and the "people of the city of St. Louis." Even someone in possession of a credit card belonging to the officer's daughter, he told Carroll, is "entitled to the same protection ... under the Constitution of the United States."

"The criminal justice system worked exactly how it is designed to work to hold accountable those who betray the public trust," the Circuit Attorney's office of St. Louis said Wednesday in an emailed statement. "A police officer broke the law. The crime was immediately reported to authorities. An investigation was conducted. The officer was held accountable."

An assistant city circuit attorney, Bliss Worrell, resigned after the incident and pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony, admitting she concealed her knowledge of Carroll's assault. Worrell awaits sentencing.

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com