A St. Paul police officer indicted by a federal grand jury for using excessive force against a man while apprehending him in 2016 pleaded not guilty in federal court in Minneapolis Thursday.

Officer Brett Palkowitsch stood next to his attorney when he entered the plea in front of Magistrate Judge Katherine Menendez.

Palkowitsch said little else during the hearing other than to acknowledge to the judge he understand the nature of the allegations against him and that he will cooperate with the terms of his release while his case is pending.

Those terms include surrendering his passport, firearm, and agreeing to limit his travel to within Minnesota and Wisconsin unless approved by probation, the judge said.

He also was ordered to have no contact with the man he’s accused of using excessive force against as well as eight other officers who responded to the scene and may be called as witnesses.

His attorney, Deborah Ellis, pushed back when the U.S. attorney’s office tried to include a ninth officer on the list who is a good friend of Palkowitsch’s.

Ellis told the judge that while she could understand prohibiting her client’s discussion of the case with the officer, limiting his contact with a good friend in entirety seemed “overly broad and unnecessary.”

Federal prosecutor, Christopher Perras, said his office made the request because it discovered during its investigation into the case that Palkowitsch made several attempts to reach out to at least one fellow officer who had been at the scene of the incident in what seemed like an attempt to “get (their stories) straight.”

The federal government wanted to take measures to make sure that didn’t happen with any other potential witnesses, including Palkowitsch’s friend and colleague, Perras said.

Menendez ended up allowing Palkowitsch to have contact with the officer in question so long as there was no discussion of the case.

The federal indictment stems from Palkowitsch’s conduct toward Frank Baker back in June of 2016.

St. Paul officers responded to an anonymous report of a man with a gun, described as black and having dreadlocks. Baker, returning to his East Side apartment at the time, fit the general description but was unarmed and was not the suspect.

A police K-9 held Baker’s leg for 70 seconds and Palkowitsch kicked him three times in the ribs, police have said. Baker was hospitalized for two weeks with seven fractured ribs and both his lungs collapsed.

Baker filed a lawsuit against St. Paul and the city agreed to a historic $2 million settlement in 2017.

Palkowitsch, 31, is charged with one count of deprivation of rights — a federal civil rights violation.

The indictment states he “used unreasonable force when he kicked” Baker repeatedly when he “was on the ground and in the grips of a police canine, resulting in bodily injury,” according to a statement from the FBI’s Minneapolis field office.

In a police report written back in 2016, Palkowitsch wrote that he kicked Baker because he believed the man was armed and wasn’t complying with officers’ orders.

St. Paul police chief fired him after the incident, but Palkowitsch appealed the termination and his employment with the police department was reinstated.

He was placed on paid administrative leave from the force after he being indicted.

The next hearing in his case is scheduled to take place March 14.