From [HERE] A former San Juan County sheriff's deputy has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to violating the civil rights of an American Indian suspect he beat with a flashlight. The assault raised concerns about the treatment of American Indians by police in towns that border the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation, tribal officials said. Dale Frazier will be on probation for three to five years after Wednesday's plea in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque. He could have received up to 10 years in prison.

The Farmington Daily Times reports (http://bit.ly/VqScCr ) the 57-year-old was captured on his patrol car's video camera striking Donovan Tanner with a flashlight in March 2011.  He had detained Tanner and his brother as they walked away from a Farmington brewery where they had argued with a group of men.

The video released by the sheriff's office after the incident shows Frazier ordering Tanner, now 24, and his brother to stand near Frazier's patrol car and answer questions about the argument.

Frazier can be seen pinning Tanner to the hood of his car. He first uses the metal flashlight to choke Tanner and then starts forcefully hitting him in the head, neck and body. Frazier continued hitting him after he fell to the ground, while a Farmington police officer and another sheriff's deputy watched.

Tanner was arrested and charged with disarming a police officer, but the charges were later dismissed. Tanner filed a lawsuit against the county and settled for $250,000, said his lawyer, Arlon Stoker.