Thomas Carroll, a former St. Louis police officer, was sentenced to 52 months in prison for punching and shoving a gun in the mouth of a man suspected of breaking into his daughter's car and stealing her credit cards. Photo courtesy of Daniel schwen/Wikimedia

ST. LOUIS, July 29 (UPI) -- A former St. Louis police officer received a 52-month prison sentence for violating the civil rights of an arrested man.

Thomas Carroll, 52, admitted during his plea hearing he punched a suspect, threw him against a wall and forced his gun into his mouth at St. Louis' central police station in 2014 while the suspect, identified in a Department of Justice statement Thursday as M.W., was handcuffed.


M.W. allegedly broke into a car owned by Carroll's daughter and stole her credit cards, the statement said.

In a separate but related case, Bliss Worrell, 28, received 18 months' probation for concealing her knowledge of the assault. Worrell, a former prosecutor in the St. Louis Circuity Attorney's office, admitted she filed charges against M.W. while concealing her knowledge of Carroll's assault. She pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony, a charge of failing to report knowledge of a committed felony. She pleaded guilty in October 2015.