Former Indiana police sergeant sentenced to 19 months for covering up excessive force in false report

A judge sentenced a former Muncie police sergeant to 19 months in prison Tuesday for obstructing justice by filing a false report in 2018 to cover up excessive use of force by other officers under his command.

U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt also ordered Joseph Krejsa to pay a $5,000 fine and serve two years of supervised release following his prison term.

Krejsa pleaded guilty in January to obstruction of justice after negotiating a plea agreement with prosecutors. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed a second obstruction of justice charge, The Star Press reported.

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Court documents and statements made in court indicated Kresja responded on Aug. 9, 2018, to the scene of an arrest where, before he arrived, other officers under his supervision used excessive force against the person being arrested.

The former Muncie police sergeant has been sentenced to 19 months in prison for covering up other officers’ use of excessive force in a false police report.

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The next day, Krejsa conducted a review of the arrest during which he said he had watched the videos of it and deemed the use of force justified.

During the arrest, after the suspect insulted the two officers arresting him, one officer dropped his body down onto the suspect’s neck and head area using his knee and then tased him before another officer struck him twice in the face with a knee, prosecutors said.

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Krejsa is the fourth Muncie police official to plead guilty in connection with the investigation, prosecutors said.