Ex-Gary Police Chief Convicted Of Excessive Force
GARY, Indiana – A federal jury on Tuesday convicted Thomas Houston, former Gary, Indiana police chief on a felony civil rights violation for using excessive force, the Justice Department said.
The jury acquitted Houston on other charges and also acquitted Houston’s former deputy chief, Thomas Branson, and Sgt. Thomas Decanter in the case, the Justice Department said.
“Abuse of law enforcement authority is a grave offense and undermines the work of the vast majority of public servants who serve with honor every day,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Grace Chung Becker in a prepared statement. “It erodes citizens’ trust in government at the most basic and fundamental level, and must be prosecuted accordingly.”
