Caught On Tape: Cop Sucker Punches Suspect In Back Of Head, Then Charges Him With "Assaulting A Police Officer"

McLEAN, Va. — A former Loudoun County sheriff's deputy is facing a federal civil rights lawsuit after a patrol car camera appeared to show him knocking out an unsuspecting target with a blow to the back of the head delivered at a full sprint.

Sterling, Va., resident Carlos Garcia filed the lawsuit last year in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, but papers were served only recently on the defendant, Terry Daniel, who resigned from the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office last year.

Garcia's lawyer, Victor Glasberg, said the video — which has been posted on YouTube — is clear and unambiguous evidence of an unprovoked assault. It shows Garcia standing with his hands in the air next to another deputy and his back turned as Daniel approaches rapidly. Garcia collapses immediately after being struck by the deputy.

In the lawsuit, Garcia says the blow knocked him unconscious and has left him with permanent brain damage, including headaches, loss of memory and confusion.

Interestingly, it was Garcia who wound up being charged following the November 2009 incident with assaulting a police officer. Court records show he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor battery and received a suspended sentence.

In the lawsuit, Glasberg writes that Garcia consistently denied assaulting anyone, but opted to plead guilty to a reduced charge with a suspended sentence to avoid a felony trial. And Glasberg said the criminal allegations are unrelated to the assault Garcia suffered; even if the incident had unfolded as police described, it would have been minutes before Daniel's attack on Garcia, Glasberg said.