Former Tukwila police officer gets 9 months for attack on restrained man

SEATTLE -- A now-former police officer has been sentenced to a nine months in prison for an attack on a restrained man at a Seattle hospital.

U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour issued the sentence Tuesday for 36-year-old Nicholas Hogan, who worked as a police officer in Tukwila and Snoqualmie. Hogan pleaded guilty in November to a charge of depriving a man of his civil rights.

Hogan acknowledged in his plea agreement that in 2011 he repeatedly struck a handcuffed man while transporting him to Harborview Medical Center, then pepper-sprayed the man after he had been placed on a gurney in four-point restraints. Hogan agreed not to seek further employment in law enforcement or as a security guard for 15 years.

U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes says Hogan was a "bad apple" who needed to be held to account.

His lawyer argued that Hogan had already lost his job and that there was no need to send him to prison.