Former Loudon County Corrections Officer Sentenced To Prison For Using Excessive Force

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – On March 4, 2024, Brian J. Phillips, 32, currently residing in Georgia, was sentenced to five months in prison by the Honorable Thomas A. Varlan, United States District Judge, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville.

As part of the plea agreement filed with the court, Phillips waived an indictment by a Federal Grand Jury and pleaded guilty to an Information charging him with one count of the use of excessive force under color of law, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242.  Following his incarceration, Phillips will be on supervised release for a period of two years.          

As set forth in filed court documents, at the time of the offense, Phillips was employed as a correctional officer by the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office. On January 25, 2021, Phillips was assigned to the Loudon County Jail to monitor a pod of detainees and inmates eating dinner, including detainee E.H.  The defendant watched as E.H., who had already received one dinner tray, entered the line to get a second dinner tray, which was not permitted.  The defendant started to approach E.H.  When E.H. received a second dinner tray, defendant knocked the tray from E.H.’s hands, sending food into the air and onto the ground.  The defendant grabbed E.H. by the wrist to take control of him.  The defendant then wrapped his arms around E.H.’s waist and hip-slammed E.H. headfirst into the concrete floor, fracturing E.H.’s skull and rendering E.H. momentarily unconscious.

U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton, III of the Eastern District of Tennessee and Special Agent in Charge, Joseph E. Carrico, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement. 

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI. 

Assistant United States Attorneys William A. Roach, Jr., and Jeremy S. Dykes prosecuted the case.

For more information about the Civil Rights Division and the Special Litigation Section, please visit www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigation-section.  You can also report civil rights violations to the section by completing the complaint form available at www.civilrights.justice.gov.

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