Former Metropolitan Police Officer Convicted of Federal Civil Rights Violations

            WASHINGTON – Mark Lamont Clark, 57, a former officer with the Metropolitan Police Department, was found guilty today of two counts of deprivation of civil rights under color of law.  The verdict was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M Graves and Chief Robert J. Contee, III, of the Metropolitan Police Department.

            According to evidence presented in court, on July 13, 2018, while acting under color of law and fully dressed in his MPD uniform, Clark applied a prohibited chokehold to victim D.T., causing bodily injury and depriving D.T. of civil rights, outside a McDonald’s restaurant, following a confrontation Clark had with a friend of D.T.  Just five days later, on July 18, 2018, while acting under color of law and fully dressed in his MPD uniform, Clark similarly escalated a verbal confrontation with a McDonald’s patron, victim K.C., and then applied a prohibited chokehold and a prohibited carotid artery hold to K.C., causing bodily injury and depriving K.C. of civil rights.  Both offenses were captured on Clark’s MPD body-worn camera (BWC).

            U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols presided over Clark’s trial and scheduled Clark’s sentencing for August 30, 2023.

            This case was investigated by the Internal Affairs Division of the Metropolitan Police Department.

            The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Truscott and George Eliopoulos of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.