Ex-Elkhart officer gets 15 months for punching handcuffed man

HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) — A former northern Indiana police officer who was caught on video repeatedly punching a handcuffed man in 2018 has been sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Cory Newland, a former Elkhart police officer, was sentenced Friday for his role in the beating. He had pleaded guilty in federal court in Hammond to a federal charge of deprivation of civil rights and aiding and abetting.

Surveillance video showed Newland and another officer, Joshua Titus, punching the handcuffed suspect after the man spit on one of them at the Elkhart police station in January 2018.

Newland admitted that he knew at the time that his use of force was unjustified and unlawful. He resigned from the Elkhart Police Department in August.

Titus is awaiting trial.