INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis police sergeant who was seen in body camera footage kicking a handcuffed man in the face during an arrest in 2021 has pleaded guilty to a felony in federal court. 

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Sgt. Eric Huxley, who is currently suspended from the department, formalized a guilty plea Monday for violating the civil rights of an arrestee by using excessive force, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

He was indicted on one count of deprivation of rights under the color of law in the federal Southern District of Indiana in October 2022 – more than a year after the arrest at the heart of the charge took place.  

Body camera footage of the Sept. 24, 2021, arrest released by the department shows Jermaine Vaughn falling on his back near the steps at Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis during his interaction with Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers.

Moments later, Huxley’s foot is seen stomping down on Vaughn’s face. He was in handcuffs at the time.

Despite knowing Vaughn no longer posed a threat to officers or the public, federal prosecutors said Huxley “intentionally raised his right foot and drove it down onto” Vaughn’s head and face.

Vaughn was then arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and later charged with two misdemeanors of disorderly conduct and resisting law enforcement, but both of those charges were dismissed shortly after.