ST. LOUIS聽鈥斅An off-duty Northwoods police officer who assaulted a woman at a license office last year pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to a civil rights charge.
Michael L. Bennett, 63, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in 最新杏吧原创 to a misdemeanor charge of deprivation of rights under color of law. The indictment filed last year against him said he used unreasonable force by striking someone identified only as S.T. with his fists 鈥渨hile S.T. did not pose a threat to anyone.鈥
Bennett was off duty and not in uniform at the time. The woman was injured in the encounter.
U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp accepted Bennett's plea and set his sentencing for Aug. 13. Bennett could face a year in jail. He retired from the Northwoods Police Department on July 1, according to the city's police chief.
础听聽of the incident dated April 15, 2021, shows a man who identifies himself as a police officer removing a woman from the office in Florissant.
The five-minute video, titled 鈥淎nother Day at the Florissant DMV,鈥 begins with a woman and office staffers arguing, with employees trying to get her to leave the office. She pushes a man in the face, appears to hit him and attempts to hit him again.
鈥淟et鈥檚 go, ma鈥檃m,鈥 Bennett says, showing her a badge before grabbing her by the neck. He then begins hitting her in the face as he repeatedly says, 鈥淟et鈥檚 go.鈥
At one point, he hits her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground, and hits her again in the face while she鈥檚 on the ground and again when she tried to get up. The man then stands over her and refuses to let her get up, telling her, 鈥淕et up again and I will knock the (expletive) out of you.鈥
Florissant police arrive near the聽聽and arrest the woman.
