Two Officers Plead No Contest in Beating
Two Asian American police officers accused of illegally beating and pepper-spraying a black man pleaded guilty to lesser charges and will not be retried, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Michael Kan, 27, and Craig Lee, 42, pleaded no contest Tuesday to unlawfully fighting in public. The maximum sentence is a $250 fine.
The two were initially charged with felony assault and misdemeanor battery in the beating of Albert Hopkins.
Hopkins, 59, testified during an April trial that the officers pulled him out of the parked car in which he was living July 13, 2003, beat him with a club and pepper-sprayed him because he was black.
The officers said they were defending themselves.
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