A federal grand jury late Thursday indicted a city of Madison, Alabama, police officer for using unreasonable force against a man he was attempting to question in February 2015, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance of the Northern District of Alabama and Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton of the FBI.
The one-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges that Eric Sloan Parker, 26, while acting in his official capacity as a police officer on Feb. 6 in Limestone County, injured a man by slamming him to the ground. The indictment identifies the victim only by initials, “S.P.”
Parker’s actions deprived the man in Madison of his right under the U.S. Constitution to be secure from unreasonable seizures, which includes the right to be free from unreasonable force by someone acting under color of law, according to the indictment. An indictment is only an allegation and does not constitute evidence of guilt on the part of the defendant.
The FBI investigated the case. Trial Attorney Henry C. Leventis of the Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert O. Posey and Russell E. Penfield of the Northern District of Alabama are prosecuting the case.
