A Bridgeport police officer has been acquitted of civil rights violations charges in the beating of a suspect captured on video.
The Connecticut Post reports that a U.S. District Court jury cleared Clive Higgins Wednesday of wrongdoing in the May 20, 2011, beating of Orlando Lopez-Soto in Beardsley Park. "I never stopped praying," said Higgins, who had been suspended.
Scot X. Esdaile, state president of the NAACP, called the verdict a miscarriage of justice.
Two other officers charged in the incident, Elson Morales and Joseph Lawlor, pleaded guilty in June to depriving Lopez-Soto of his civil rights.
A video showed police officers kicking Lopez-Soto after he was shot with a stun gun following a car chase. He's serving five years in prison after pleading guilty to drug and gun charges.
