Ex-Alabama officer pleads guilty to assaulting detained man

TALLASSEE, Ala. — A former Alabama police officer has admitted to slamming a compliant handcuffed man into the ground and then slamming the man’s head into his patrol car.

News outlets report 27-year-old Michael Brandon Smirnoff pleaded guilty Friday to federal excessive force charges. He’s set to be sentenced in July.

A U.S. Department of Justice release says Smirnoff was working as a Tallassee police investigator in March 2016 when he took part in the arrest of a man who fled on a four-wheeler.

It says the man later surrendered to authorities, lay face down on the ground and was handcuffed. It says Smirnoff then lifted the man into the air, slammed him into the ground and into the car. It’s unclear if the man was injured.

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The Associated Press