WASHINGTON – Christopher M. Lanoue, a former deputy with the Charleston County, S.C., Sheriff’s Office was sentenced today in federal court in Charleston to eight months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons followed by two years of supervised release, resulting from his conviction on a civil rights violation.  

        As part of  his guilty plea entered on April 8, 2008, Lanoue admitted that on June 21, 2007, he abused his position as a law enforcement officer by unnecessarily kicking the head and neck area of an arrestee who was restrained by handcuffs.  Lanoue agreed that his conduct violated federal law and the constitutional rights of the arrestee.

        “The overwhelming majority of police officers perform their difficult duties with honor and professionalism,” said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.  “However, when a law enforcement officer betrays the public trust by committing a criminal act while acting under color of law, the Civil Rights Division is committed to seeing that justice is done.”

        This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alston C. Badger and Deputy Chief Brent Alan Gray of the Civil Rights Division.