According to CNN, an Arkansas sheriff has been charged with federal civil rights offenses after allegedly assaulting three detainees, according to the US Justice Department. 49-year-old Franklin County Sheriff Anthony Boen is indicted on charges that he violated the civil rights of three pretrial detainees by using unreasonable force.
According to court documents, Boen was arrested on Tuesday and released on a $5,000 bond. Count one of the indictment alleges that in September 2017, Boen punched a detained person several times, including in the head, while the person was handcuffed and shackled in the back of a police car. In a second incident, in November 2018, Boen ordered a detainee into the detectives’ office, pushed him to the floor, and grabbed his hair or beard, resulting in bodily injury, according to the indictment. In a third incident, back in December 2018, Boen is accused of hitting a detainee shackled to a bench in the county jail who “was not resisting,” according to the indictment.
Boen’s attorney Russell Wood told CNN that his client will remain sheriff, pending the outcome of the case. He also added that Boen will not engage in any sheriff duties, except to sign checks, until the case is decided.
