Feds charge ex-Indiana officer over three violent arrests

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Federal prosecutors have charged a former eastern Indiana police officer with civil rights violations, alleging that he used excessive force during three arrests. The U.S. Attorney’s office announced Friday that former New Castle police officer Aaron J. Strong has been indicted on three counts of depriving someone of their civil rights “under color of law” and a single count of witness tampering. According to prosecutors, Strong kicked a man in the head during a July 2017 arrest and shot another man with a beanbag gun during a separate arrest that day. They say that in 2019, he repeatedly struck a suspect with his baton even though the suspect had surrendered.