Two Excessive Force Incidents in the Same Week: Alabama Law Enforcement Officers Plead Guilty
Ryan Phillips, a former sergeant of the Daleville, Alabama Police Department, pled guilty on Aug. 15 to charges of depriving an arrestee of his civil right under color of law, according to a DOJ press release.
“This defendant abused his power by entering the cell of an arrestee to violently strike him in the face and upper body without cause or reason,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said about Phillips in a statement in the release.
Sergeant Ryan Phillips was working as a Sergeant for the Daleville PD on March 1, 2022, when he had a verbal altercation with a prisoner in a cell. The disagreement escalated, and Phillips threw his badge on the floor, handed his weapon to another officer and entered the prisoner’s cell, according to admissions Phillips made in a plea agreement.
Phillips further admitted to entering a prisoner’s cell and striking his face, chest, and back times without a legitimate law enforcement purpose. The prisoner sustained bruising and lacerations to his scalp, neck, back, chest, and face due to the beating.
Phillips also agreed that he willfully deprived the prisoner of his constitutionally protected rights to “be free from the use of unreasonable force by one acting under color of law.”
But this isn’t the only case of excessive force used in Alabama that week.
Blake Hicks, 33, a former sheriff’s deputy in Elmore County, Alabama, pleaded guilty on March 6, 2024, to charges of excessive force, according to an earlier DOJ press release. On March 5, 2022, when Hicks was still employed as a law enforcement officer at the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Hicks assaulted a prisoner who was lying on the ground with his hands cuffed behind him, punching and kicking him in the head, according to Hicks’ indictment.
The prisoner suffered lacerations, a broken cheekbone, and a concussion from Hicks’ assault, the March DOJ press release reported. Hicks was sentenced on June 24 to 29 months in prison with an additional three years of supervised release, according to the most recent DOJ press release on the subject.
“We expect law enforcement officers to maintain order and ensure public safety. These are tremendous responsibilities. … Failure to hold Hicks accountable would discredit the noble service of other officers and weaken the public’s trust in law enforcement,” said U.S. Attorney Jonathan S. Ross for the Middle District of Alabama in Hicks’ most recent press release.
Phillips’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 13, according to an AP News report. Although the maximum time Phillips faces is ten years, prosecutors are recommending a 22-month prison sentence.
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