East St. Louis Police Department Officer Indicted on Civil Rights and False Statement Charges

WASHINGTON, July 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Antonio McWherter, a police officer in the East St. Louis, Ill., Police Department, was charged today in a two-count federal indictment stemming from a January 2006 incident in which the officer allegedly punched a handcuffed arrestee in the mouth, announced Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, and A. Courtney Cox, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois. The indictment charges McWherter with a felony civil rights violation and with making false statements to the FBI.