Ex-S.C. trooper pleads guilty

COLUMBIA — A former S.C. trooper caught on video kicking a suspect in the head after a highway chase pleaded guilty Monday to violating the man's civil rights, according to federal court documents.

John B. Sawyer faces up to 10 years in prison. A few months earlier, a jury acquitted another trooper of the same charge, depriving a man of his right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer, in a different incident also captured on video.

Sawyer was indicted in July after the state released a May 2006 video that showed him kicking Sergio Caridi in the head several times. Caridi, who is from New York, had led troopers and sheriff's deputies on a 30-mile chase on Interstate 95 in a dump truck.

Officers shot out several of the truck's tires before it stopped. In the video, Caridi is seen getting out of the vehicle with his hands up and lying on the ground before Sawyer kicks him in the head. Caridi appears to try to get up, and Sawyer kicks him again.

After the incident, Sawyer was placed on administrative leave and resigned months later.

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