From [HERE] Former Louisville Metro Police Officer Cory Evans pleaded guilty Wednesday to using excessive force when he hit a kneeling protester in the back of the head with a riot stick in May 2020.

Evans, who resigned in June, faces up to 48 months in prison and $1,962 in restitution if a federal judge accepts the plea agreement.

His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 23 and he will remain free on bond.

The victim, identified as M.C. in court documents, did not attend the plea hearing. 

If U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings decides not to accept the plea, Evans will be able to withdraw it. The maximum penalty for the felony charge, deprivation of rights under color of law, is 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. 

If the case goes to trial, the U.S. Attorney's Office said the prosecution has testimony and video footage of Evans striking M.C. in the head with his riot stick on May 31, 2020, while the victim was kneeling on the ground and surrendering with his hands in the air.

Evans admitted striking M.C., who was taken to a hospital for minor injuries. 

Judge Jennings told Evans he must give up his firearms and actively seek employment while out on bond. 

Attorney Brian Butler, who represents Evans, said the former officer has obtained a job. 

Butler told reporters that Evans pleaded guilty because he wanted to take responsibility for his actions. 

In addition, Butler said Evans had a lengthy military career, where he served in combat zones, and the excessive force incident occurred during the beginning of the protests over the Breonna Taylor shooting. 

"It was an extremely tense situation," Butler said. 

Evans, who was charged on June 9, submitted his resignation to LMPD less than a week after the department released a statement saying the Chief's Office "immediately referred" the allegations against Evans to federal authorities "when they came to light."

Evans allegedly "willfully deprived arrestee M.C. of the right, secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to be free of an unreasonable seizure, which includes the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer," the complaint filed in federal court says.

Evans has been with LMPD since 2014.

In 2019, Evans was exonerated from allegations of police brutality after a Public Standards Unit investigation into a controversial traffic stop that occurred in December 2018 in front of the Kroger near the intersection of South 26th Street and West Broadway.

Cellphone video shows Evans punching Jarrus Ransom several times after police found pills in a Pepsi can while searching his car. Ransom was in a neck brace in his Metro Corrections mugshot, and his eye was swollen.

Body camera footage of the incident shows Ransom lunge into Evans and officers struggling to get him into handcuffs. The charges against Ransom stemming from the traffic stop were later dropped.

Ransom sued the city, Evans and fellow Officers Kyle Carroll and Sarah Nicolas, claiming they used excessive force during his arrest. The lawsuit was moved to federal court in the Western District of Kentucky, and the city has been dismissed from the case, according to court records.

In April, Evans sued local DUI attorney Larry Forman for defamation after a video was posted to YouTube alleging the officer planted evidence during the traffic stop.