Former Mendenhall, Mississippi, Police Chief Sentenced for Using Excessive Force

WASHINGTON – A federal judge today sentenced Jimmy "Jimbo" Sullivan, the former chief of police in Mendenhall, Miss., to 30 months in prison for using excessive force when he repeatedly stomped on the head of an arrestee, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King for the Civil Rights Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Stan Harris for the Southern District of Mississippi.

At his guilty plea hearing on Jan. 30, 2009, Sullivan admitted that he used excessive force on July 22, 2005, after joining other law enforcement officials in the apprehension of a man who led police on a car chase. At the end of the chase, Sullivan pulled the man from his car and repeatedly stomped on his head as the man lay face-down in the street. A local hospital treated the man for injuries sustained during the assault.

This case was investigated by the Jackson office of the FBI, and was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Patti Sumner of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenda Haynes of the Southern District of Mississippi.