LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - An internal investigation by the Lincoln Police Department has found that two officers used excessive force in separate incidents.
In the first incident in December, an officer shoved a handcuffed inmate into a Lancaster County jail wall, according to a report to the mayor’s Citizens Police Advisory Board this week.
The report said jail video showed the officer shoved the man into the far wall of his cell, causing the inmate to hit his head and collapse to the floor. The inmate was taken to a hospital, where doctors treated him for a cut to his head.
Jail staff watched the video and reported the officer’s force was excessive, and Police Chief Jim Peschong ordered an investigation.
The officer told internal affairs investigators he pushed the inmate because he was worried the man would try to turn and continue fighting with him and another officer.
That officer quit the force before facing a disciplinary hearing, the Lincoln Journal Star reported (https://bit.ly/1nTyBx5) Saturday.
In March, the report says, another officer shoved a man into a wall at a Lincoln homeless shelter and threw the man across the room before the man was subdued and arrested. That officer faces a disciplinary committee.
Police Chief Jim Peschong and City Attorney Rod Confer declined to release the names of the officers involved, saying the incidents are personnel matters not subject to the state’s open records laws.
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, https://www.journalstar.com
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