From [HERE] The Elkhart Police Department moved two officers to unpaid leave Monday, 10 days after a federal grand jury indicted the officers on civil rights charges for repeatedly punching a handcuffed man in the face last year.

Elkhart’s Board of Public Safety voted 4-0 to approve Police Chief Chris Snyder’s request to stop paying officers Cory Newland and Joshua Titus while their criminal cases are pending.

The federal indictment, announced March 22, accuses the officers of using excessive force against the handcuffed man after he allegedly spat at Newland. The officers also face separate misdemeanor battery charges filed by Elkhart County prosecutors in November, after the South Bend Tribune and ProPublica requested video of the January 2018 incident.

Snyder said Monday the department has a new policy that officers charged with crimes will be moved to unpaid leave after 60 days. Newland and Titus had been on paid administrative leave since November, but Snyder said the new policy was just approved in March.

They were arresting him for domestic battery, battery to a police officer, public intoxication and resisting police.

Video shows the white cop taunting and apparently daring the handcuffed Latino man to spit on him. He does. Then the two officers then begin to punch & attack him while he is handcuffed to the chair.
Newland has pleaded not guilty to the federal charge. Titus has yet to be arraigned. Both have been released on bond.

Both officers have entered not-guilty pleas to the Elkhart County battery charges. Titus is scheduled for a May trial. Newland is scheduled for a conference with prosecutors this month to discuss a possible plea agreement.