A former West Virginia state trooper was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Martinsburg, W.Va., for using excessive force on a 16-year-old after a pursuit last November.
Michael Kennedy, 29, of Morgantown, was named in a one-count indictment accusing him of deprivation of civil rights, according to Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney William J. Powell of the Northern District of West Virginia.
Kennedy was among several officers disciplined after the arrest of a 16-year-old on Nov. 19, 2018, in Berkeley County, according to news reports.
He and another trooper, Derek Walker, were fired in January after an agency review of the incident, as were two sheriff’s deputies.
The Department of Justice reported the teenager allegedly struck a sheriff’s vehicle with his car, drove off and hit a telephone pole and rolled over. Officers pulled him out of the car and assaulted him, prosecutors said.
The incident was captured by dashcam, according to news reports.
The case was investigated by the FBI.
Kennedy is due in court for arraignment on April 8, according to Powell.
