A former New York police officer who pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges related to the 1998 death of a drug suspect he hit in the head with a walkie-talkie was sentenced Friday to two years and 11 months in prison. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero issued the sentence to Craig Yokemick, 36, who pleaded guilty in August to two felony charges. Yokemick had admitted violating the civil rights of the suspect, Kenneth Banks, when he hurled a 2-pound police radio at him as he tried to escape on a bicycle. Banks later died of trauma to the head. A local grand jury cleared Yokemick in 1999 of using excessive force, and the city reportedly paid Banks' family $750,000 in a civil settlement. Yokemick already has served 45 days in jail after he was convicted by a Westchester jury in an unrelated incident in April 2002 in which he punched a Westchester County teacher and threw him to the ground in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. [more] and [more]

• The Killing of Kenneth Banks [more]