Krout v. Sawdy, No. 08-2781 (8th Cir. Oct. 6, 2009) (here):
Once [the motorist] was on the ground and no longer resisting, several patrons and employees of the Waffle House witnessed two officers assault him. Harriet Stone witnessed one officer knee Rylee in the lower back four to six times while he was not moving, and saw another officer punch Rylee five or six times in the mid-back area. Jeff Munhall saw one officer knee Rylee in the back while a second officer punched him in the head area – again while Rylee did not move or resist. At one point, Munhall saw the officer who was kneeing Rylee walk away, only to return moments later and continue kicking and hitting Rylee. Darlene Shoptaw, another Waffle House witness, saw one officer drop down on Rylee three or four times with his knees from a standing position, while the other officer struck him with his fist near the head area. She also saw “several” other police officers standing around, not doing or saying anything to stop the officers who were assaulting Rylee. Like Shoptaw, Crystal Jones saw one officer punch Rylee in the back while a second officer fell on him with his knees from a standing position “at least three or four times.” According to Jones, “between six and eight” total officers were there while the knee drops occurred.
Slip op. at *5. The man died. "The cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries with complications; the principal factor was a neck fracture and spinal cord injury." Id. at *8. The man had initially resisted arrest after becoming ill, and thus losing touch with reality.
The police officers who beat a handcuffed man for five minutes were referred to the United State Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division for prosecution. I haven't been able to locate any media results announcing a prosecution. I also ran a PACER Criminal search for "Lee Goemmer," "Todd Winesburg," "Keith Spears," "Terry Cobb," and "Bobby Stevens." No indictments.
Based on my research, it appears that the police officers who beat a man to death did were never criminally charged. If I am wrong, please correct me in the comments. Even I am not jaded enough to believe that five officers whom eyewitnesses watched beat a man to death, escaped criminal charges.
