A former police officer with the Elkhart Police Department, Joshua Titus, 34, was sentenced Thursday to one year and one day in federal prison for his role in assaulting a handcuffed detainee in his custody, the Department of Justice stated.
On Dec. 8, 2022, Titus’s co-defendant, former Elkhart Police Officer Cory Newland, 40, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in the same offense, according to officials.
Titus and Newland were both sentenced by District Court Judge Phillip P. Simon in Indiana after pleading guilty to their respective roles in the assault.
“When officers abuse their power by assaulting handcuffed and defenseless arrestees, it erodes the public trust and tarnishes the reputation (of) police officers everywhere,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “No one is above the law, and the Justice Department will continue to ensure that officers who violate the rights of individuals in their custody are held accountable.”
According to court documents, on Jan. 12, 2018, while on duty, Newland assisted in the arrest of an individual identified by the initials M.L. and transported him to the booking area at the police department.
Once at the police department, M.L. was placed in a chair with his hands handcuffed behind his back, with both arms behind the back of the chair.
While seated in the chair, M.L. spat in the direction of Newland, at which point both Titus and Newland began punching M.L. in the face, causing him to fall backward onto the concrete floor.
Titus and Newland then hunched over M.L. and punched him approximately ten more times in the face and body.
Both former officers have acknowledged that they knew at the time of the assault that their use of force on M.L. was unjustified and unlawful under the circumstances.
The FBI Indianapolis Field Office investigated this case.
Trial Attorney Katherine G. DeVar of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and General Crimes Unit Chief Abizer Zanzi for the Northern District of Indiana prosecuted the case.