Mount Vernon Police Sergeant Gets Prison For Using Excessive Force: DOJ

MOUNT VERNON, NY — A Mount Vernon police officer has been sentenced for violating the civil rights of a victim experiencing a mental health crisis.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that Mario Stewart, a sergeant with the Mount Vernon Police Department (MVPD), was sentenced for using excessive force against a person experiencing a mental health crisis, tasing him seven times over the course of several minutes, in violation of the victim's rights under the U.S. Constitution.

In addition to a six-month prison term, the 46-year-old Brooklyn resident was sentenced to six months of home confinement.

SEE ALSO:

• Mount Vernon Police Sergeant Guilty Of Using Excessive Force: DOJ
• FBI Arrests Mount Vernon PD Sergeant Over Excessive Force Claims

"New Yorkers depend daily on the women and men of law enforcement," Clayton said. "We trust them to keep us safe, to act in line with their training, and to respect our individual rights. This trust, earned over decades, is essential to our way of life. When a law enforcement officer breaches that trust, we are all affected. Yesterday's sentencing was about protecting the trust between our communities and our police departments."

According to court documents, on March 26, 2019, Stewart was assigned to the MVPD's Emergency Services Unit, which is responsible for responding to people who are experiencing mental health crises.

On that day, Stewart and six other MVPD officers received a call to help the victim, who was experiencing a mental health crisis.

Once on the scene, Stewart and the other police officers restrained the victim, handcuffing his hands behind his back and securing his legs in a restraint bag, in order to transport him for medical assistance.

When the officers were unable to pull the restraint bag over the victim's chest because he was holding onto one of the bag's straps, Stewart told the victim to release the strap.

While Stewart deployed his taser seven times, the victim remained lying on the ground, handcuffed with his hands behind his back and his legs secured in the restraint bag.

The DOJ says that Stewart's actions caused bodily injury to the victim, including extreme pain.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas stated that a prison sentence was necessary "to send a clear message" to law enforcement that "even though your job is really hard, and even though you protect us every day and you have to make really tough decisions, there are still times where you have to yield to authority, and where the line is clear, you cannot cross it. . . . The people of Mount Vernon have to know that they will not be themselves victims of their law enforcement officers."

Clayton praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and thanked the Westchester County District Attorney's Office and the MVPD for their assistance with the investigation.

The case is being handled by the Office's Civil Rights Unit in the Criminal Division, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sam Adelsberg and Jared Hoffman in charge of the prosecution.