A former Mount Vernon police sergeant, 46-year-old Mario Stewart, is set to spend six months in federal prison for using excessive force, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors say Stewart used a Taser seven times over several minutes on a man having a mental crisis.
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that Mario Stewart, a Sergeant with the Mount Vernon Police Department (“MVPD”), was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas to six months in prison. While working as a Sergeant for the MVPD in 2019, Stewart used excessive force against an individual experiencing a mental health crisis, tasing him seven times over the course of several minutes, in violation of the Victim’s rights under the U.S. Constitution.
“New Yorkers depend daily on the women and men of law enforcement,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “We trust them to keep us safe, to act in line with their training, and to respect our individual rights. This trust, earned over decades, is essential to our way of life. When a law enforcement officer breaches that trust, we are all affected. Yesterday’s sentencing was about protecting the trust between our communities and our police departments.”
According to the Indictment, court filings, and statements made in court:
On or about March 26, 2019, Stewart was employed as a Sergeant with the MVPD. Stewart was assigned to the MVPD’s Emergency Services Unit, which is responsible for, among other things, responding to individuals who are experiencing mental health crises. On that day, Stewart and six other MVPD officers received a call to assist the Victim in Mount Vernon, New York, as the Victim was experiencing a mental health crisis.
At the scene, Stewart and the other MVPD officers restrained the Victim, handcuffing his hands behind his back and securing his legs in a restraint bag in preparation to transport the Victim for medical assistance. When the MVPD officers were unable to pull the restraint bag over the Victim’s chest because the Victim was holding onto one of the bag’s straps, Stewart directed the Victim to release the strap. Stewart then deployed his taser seven times on the Victim. During each of Stewart’s taser deployments, the Victim remained lying on the ground, handcuffed with his hands behind his back and his legs secured in the restraint bag. Stewart’s actions caused bodily injury to the Victim, including extreme pain.
In pronouncing Stewart’s sentence, U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas stated that a prison sentence was necessary “to send a clear message” to law enforcement that “even though your job is really hard, and even though you protect us every day and you have to make really tough decisions, there are still times where you have to yield to authority, and where the line is clear, you cannot cross it. . . . The people of Mount Vernon have to know that they will not be themselves victims of their law enforcement officers.”
Stewart, 46, of Brooklyn, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in January to depriving an individual of his civil rights by using excessive force against a 20-year-old civilian in 2019. He worked several more years before retiring in 2023.
In addition to the prison term, Stewart was also sentenced to six months of home confinement upon his release.
Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and thanked the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office and the MVPD for their assistance with the investigation.
The case is being handled by the Office’s Civil Rights Unit in the Criminal Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sam Adelsberg and Jared Hoffman are in charge of the prosecution.
