Chicago officer sentenced to 2 years for excessive force

CHICAGO (AP) - A federal judge has sentenced a veteran Chicago police officer to two years in prison for using excessive force in the September 2012 beating of a convenience store clerk captured by surveillance cameras.

Aldo Brown was convicted in October of excessive force. He testified at his trial that he began throwing punches at Jecque Howard only after he realized Howard had a handgun in his back pocket.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall told Brown Wednesday, "We can't have a police community where it's us v. them." She also said his testimony was not believable, but Brown insisted he never lied.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports (http://bit.ly/24BNh86 ) Brown's attorney, Daniel Herbert, said his shouldn't spend any time in prison and should be commended for a career patrolling a neighborhood wracked by violence.

___

Information from: Chicago Sun-Times, http://chicago.suntimes.com/