Meriden firefighters tend to Pedro Temich in a holding cell at the Meriden Police Department on May 1, 2010. Officer Evan Cossette was given a letter of reprimand for pushing Temich into the holding cell. From [HERE] and [HERE] A Meriden police officer was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on a charge of police brutality following an investigation into a 2010 incident in which he shoved a handcuffed Latino prisoner into a jail cell, cracking the his skull. The criminal investigation of Evan Cossette, the son of Police Chief Jeffry Cossette, started after the videotape of the jail cell incident surfaced and two officers, Brian Sullivan and Donald Huston, complained to city officials that Evan Cossette had received favorable treatment because he is the chief's son.

Cossette was also charged with obstruction of justice for filing a false report of the incident. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Tuesday in New Haven before U.S. Magistrate Joan G. Margolis. Use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $250,000. The obstruction charge carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000.

The videotape shows Cossette pushing the handcuffed prisoner, Pedro Temich, backward into the jail cell, causing Temich to cut open his head on a concrete bench. The indictment calls it a "firm shove" of the "compliant and handcuffed" Temich, causing him to fall back.

The tape shows Evan Cossette entering the cell at least six times and moving the unconscious Temich around, twice propping him up against the bench and another time putting him back on the floor so that the man's handcuffs could be removed. There is blood visible on the floor where Temich fell.

A dispatcher who saw the unconscious Temich in the cell made the first call for medical help. Temich was taken to MidState Medical Center in Meriden and required 12 stitches in the back of his head.

The incident wasn't reported to police administrators until six weeks later. An internal affairs investigation by the then-head of that unit, Sgt. Leonard Caponigro, found that Evan Cossette had used unnecessary force. At an administrative hearing, Deputy Chief Timothy Tupolos overruled that finding and issued a letter of reprimand. Cossette was ordered to take four hours of training on the use of excessive force.