Former Indianapolis VA Officer Sentenced For Assaulting Arrestee

INDIANAPOLIS, IN — A former Indianapolis police officer was sentenced to one year in prison Tuesday at U.S. District Court in Indianapolis for beating a man during an April 2017 arrest outside of the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Court documents reported 28-year-old Michael Kaim, a former police officer with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Police Department was sentenced for deprivation of civil rights and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine in the incident where he shoved and repeatedly punched a patient-employee whom he was arresting, according to Kaim's admissions in court and plea agreement.

Kaim's sentencing was announced by John Gore, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler of the Southern District of Indiana; and Grant Mendenhall, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis Division.

RELATED: Former Dept. Of Veterans Affairs Indy Officer Accused Of Assault

“Any law enforcement official who uses excessive force against an arrestee violates the Constitution, which is designed to protect the civil rights of all individuals, including veterans who sacrifice their lives for our freedoms,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore, in a release from the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Public Affairs. “The Department of Justice will continue to aggressively prosecute officer misconduct.”

According to the Office of Public Affairs, the case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Trial Attorney Anita T. Channapati of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division with assistance from the United States Attorney’s Office in Indianapolis.

"The FBI will continue to hold accountable members of the law enforcement community who violate the civil rights of individuals they should be protecting," Mendenhall said, in a release.

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