Kentucky deputy sentenced to federal prison for using excessive force

A federal judge in Kentucky sentenced a Boyle County sheriff's deputy to nine years and two months in prison for using excessive force on suspects.

Tanner M. Abbott, 31, sent photographs of suspects' injuries and boasted about his crimes in texts sent from his government-issued phone, according to findings from a two-year investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A jury convicted Abbott in March of five felonies and one misdemeanor related to excessive force against four arrestees, performing an illegal search as well as writing and conspiring to write false police reports to cover up his abuse.

During sentencing last month, prosecutors presented evidence that the crimes Abbott was convicted of were part of a larger pattern of abuse of authority spanning his career. Abbott sometimes used vulgar or graphic language when boasting about the injuries he caused, prosecutors allege. Two of the victims testified about abuse suffered during their arrests.

Prosecutors noted in their sentencing memo that Abbott texted a booking photo of a suspect with "conspicuous" bruising and cuts around his eyes and nose to two colleagues in November 2020, according to court records. One replied: "Looks like he fell & hit a couple of stairs going down." The other coworker responded: "Looks like Tanner punched him in the face a few times."

Abbott texted back: "3 times."

While Abbott sometimes photographed injuries he caused to suspects, he didn't submit those photos in his police reports about the incidents or arrests.

Abbott's attorney filed an appeal July 1, which is pending.

"This defendant habitually and routinely abused his authority and used his badge to shield himself from accountability for years," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a news release.

"This sentence should send a loud message that such abuses by law enforcement will not be tolerated."

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky deputy sentenced to federal prison for using excessive force