Ex-deputy gets probation for flashlight beating
Posted at: 10/25/2012 7:36 AM
By: The Associated Press
FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) - A former San Juan County sheriff's deputy has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to violating the civil rights of an American Indian suspect he beat with a flashlight.
Dale Frazier will be on probation for three to five years after Wednesday's plea in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.
He could have received up to 10 years in prison.
The Farmington Daily Times reports the 57-year-old was caught on his patrol car's video camera striking Donovan Tanner with a flashlight in March 2011.
He had detained Tanner and his brother as they walked away from a Farmington brewery where they had argued with a group of men.
The executive director of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission says the video heightened concerns among American Indians about police treatment.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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