FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA DEPUTY SHERIFF PLEADS GUILTY TO CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATION

        WASHINGTON – Christopher M. Lanoue, a former deputy with the Charleston County, S.C., Sheriff’s Office, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Charleston to using excessive force during an arrest, the Justice Department announced.

        During his plea, Lanoue acknowledged that he abused his authority as a law enforcement officer when, on June 21, 2007, he repeatedly hit and kicked a man in the head and neck even as the man, then detained, was already restrained in handcuffs.  Lanoue admitted that his conduct violated federal law and the Constitutional rights of the victim. 

        The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and was prosecuted by Alston C. Badger, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina, and Brent Alan Gray, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.