Former SC trooper faces civil rights sentencing

A former South Carolina trooper caught on video kicking a suspect in the head after a highway chase is facing sentencing before a federal judge.

John B. Sawyer is set to be sentenced Tuesday before Chief U.S. District Judge David Norton in Charleston.

Sawyer was caught on video kicking Sergio Caridi of New York during the May 2006 incident on Interstate 95.

He has pleaded guilty to violating Caridi’s civil rights and faces up to 10 years in prison. But federal sentencing guidelines recommend a maximum sentence of 18 months.

Sawyer’s lawyer says he should not be sent to prison because widespread publicity and the fact Sawyer is a former law officer would make him a target of other inmates in prison.