Department of Justice Seal Department of Justice
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CRT
(202) 514-2008
TDD (202) 514-1888

TWO KENTUCKY POLICE OFFICERS PLEAD GUILTY


WASHINGTON, D.C.- Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Ralph F. Boyd Jr.; Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; and J. Stephen Tidwell, Special Agent-in-Charge for the Louisville Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), today announced the guilty pleas of two police officers on charges of civil rights violations.

Dayton police officer Terry Meadows, 41, and Floyd County Sherriff’s Deputy Bobby Hackworth, 38, pled guilty to violating the civil rights of Amos Darvin Blackburn during a traffic stop on April 9, 2001.

After three days of trial, and following the conclusion of the United States’ case, Meadows pled guilty to using excessive force against Blackburn. Meadows admitted striking Blackburn repeatedly while he was handcuffed and face down on the pavement.

Hackworth pled guilty to being an accessory to the assault. In his plea to the court, Hackworth admitted to witnessing the assault, deliberately failing to stop it, and providing false information and evidence about the event to the Floyd County District Court and the FBI.

Sentencing is tentatively scheduled for March 2003 at Pikeville, Kentucky before U.S. District Court Judge Karen K. Caldwell.

Meadows faces a maximum 10 years imprisonment, and a $250,000 fine. Hackworth faces a maximum 5 years imprisonment, and a $125,000 fine.

Special Agent-in-Charge Jerry L. Garner of the Pikeville Resident Agency of the FBI conducted the investigation in the case. R. Michael Murphy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Seth Rosenthal of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, prosecuted the case jointly.

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