A former Des Moines police officer will spend 20 months in prison for beating a man during a traffic stop in 2008. Twenty-nine-year old Mersed Dautovic was found guilty by a jury in August this year of violating the civil rights of Octavius Bond by beating him and causing serious injury with a baton during the traffic stop.
The jury also found that Dautovic obstructed justice by filing a false statement about what happened. Dautovic will have to serve one year of supervised release once he is done serving his 20 months in jail.
The former Des Moines cop could have been sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison, and federal prosecutors did object to the length of sentence, as they had sought a longer jail term. Dautovic will not be allowed to serve as a law officer ever again.