Highland Park, Michigan, Police Officer Indicted on Civil Rights Charges

WASHINGTON, July 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Brenda Stevenson, an officer
with the city of Highland Park, Mich., Police Department, was indicted today
by a federal grand jury in Detroit on charges of using unlawful and excessive
force and making a false statement to an FBI agent, the Justice Department
announced.

The indictment charges that Stevenson, 45, while acting as a sergeant with the
Highland Park Police Department, willfully used excessive force when she
struck and assaulted an individual identified in the indictment only as "V.B."
The indictment also alleges that the defendant caused bodily injury to V.B.
and that she later made false statements to an FBI agent investigating the
incident.

Stevenson faces up to 15 years of prison and a fine of up to $500,000. An
indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is
entitled to a fair trial in which it is the government's burden to prove guilt
beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case is being investigated by the FBI's Detroit Field Office and is being
prosecuted by Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Karima Maloney and
Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela Thompson for the Eastern District of Michigan.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Justice, +1-202-514-2007, TDD +1-202-514-1888