MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WRBL) – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama announced on Friday that a former sheriff’s deputy was charged with a federal civil rights offense for using excessive force on a detainee after the detainee was already handcuffed.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama, on Oct. 31, a federal jury in Montgomery returned an indictment charging a former Elmore County Sheriff’s Deputy with depriving a detainee of his civil rights.

The indictment charges 33-year-old Blake Hicks with one county of deprivation of rights under color law after willfully using unreasonable force against an arrestee.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says that the indictment specifically alleges that without legal justification, Hicks punched and kicked the arrestee in or around the head while the arrestee was handcuffed and laying in the ground, which caused bodily injury.

The charge Hicks faces carries a maximum penalty of 10 years behind bars.