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The skirmish started with an exchange of words and a man swinging at an officer in the lobby of a men’s homeless shelter in Manhattan.

Soon, the man was being subdued by several uniformed officers working for the city’s Department of Homeless Services, according to security video of the incident.

And that’s when things got out of control, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.

While officers held the man down, Cordell Fitts, who was working as a supervising sergeant with the city’s Department of Homeless Services, kicked and stomped the man’s head more than 10 times, prosecutors said.

Sergeant Fitts punched him two more times in the head after officers attempted to place the homeless man in handcuffs, prosecutors said. Sergeant Fitts, 34, was charged with deprivation of the victim’s civil rights and filing a false report about the incident.