Font Size

New York Local News

E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Video Contradicts Guards In Excessive Force Trial

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

Recipient E-mail:*
- Your Name:*
- Your E-mail:*
Add a Message:
Send me a copy of this e-mail.

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

Print Share + Comments

Jan 11, 2008 12:00 pm US/Eastern

Video Contradicts Guards In Excessive Force Trial

Images Show No Proof Inmate Was 'Assaultive,' 'Fighting'

BROOKLYN (AP) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Federal jail guards are accused of beating an inmate and then lying about it. (File)
CBS

Close

numSlides of totalImages

Related Slideshows

: Posh Spice Tops Blackwell's Worst Dressed List

: 2007 Celebrity Deaths

: 2007: A Year in Sports Scandal

: 2007: Looking Back At Entertainment

: 2007: Looking Back At The Weird

Security camera video contradicts federal jail guards' claims that a combative inmate provoked a violent clash in which guards are accused of beating him and then lying about it, an assistant warden testified.

Five guards are on trial in the April 11, 2006, incident at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. They are charged with obstructing justice and making false statements. Two also are charged with using excessive force; the other three face charges of being accessories.

The guards said in memos after the incident that the inmate, Kenneth Howard, was "assaultive" and "fighting with staff" as he was escorted to solitary confinement after allegedly attacking another guard.

But the handcuffed Howard's alleged resistance is not clear from the videotape, which a judge made available to reporters Thursday. It shows him being led into an elevator by several guards, then being tripped or falling to the ground. Then a guard is seen kicking and stomping in the area of Howard's body, which is not in the frame.

The incident left tread marks from the guard's boot on Howard's shoulder, prosecutors said.

Assistant warden Justin Andrews testified Thursday that "the video depicted excessive use of force and did not support" the guards' account.

Prosecutors have claimed the guards attacked Howard as payback for his earlier confrontation with their colleague.

Defense lawyers have argued that the guards were responding appropriately to a struggling, pugnacious inmate.

"(Prosecutors) say excessive force; I say reasonable reaction to an emergency," lawyer William Keahon told jurors earlier this week. He represents Glen Cummings, the guard accused of kicking Howard.