WASHINGTON – Jimmy "Jimbo" Sullivan, the former chief of police in Mendenhall, Miss., pleaded guilty today to a felony civil rights violation, admitting that he used excessive force when he repeatedly stomped on the head of an arrestee, Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King for the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton for the Southern District of Mississippi announced.

On July 22, 2005, Sullivan joined other law enforcement officers in the apprehension of a man who had led police on a car chase. Today in court, Sullivan admitted that at the end of the car chase, he pulled the man from his car and then repeatedly stomped on the man’s head as the man lay face-down in the street. A local hospital treated the man for injuries sustained during the assault.

"The defendant, who was sworn to serve and protect the people, went from enforcing the law to breaking the law," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King. "The Department of Justice will continue to prosecute vigorously those law enforcement officers who abuse their power by willfully using excessive force."

The case was investigated by the Jackson office of the FBI, and was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Patti Sumner of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenda Haynes of the Southern District of Mississippi.