Former police officer to plead guilty to federal charges

Former South Bend Police officer Theodore Roberts will plead guilty to a criminal civil rights violation for assaulting an arrestee at the St. Joseph County Jail in May 2010, according to court documents.

The petition to enter a plea of guilty was filed November 12 with the US District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.

In the six page document, Roberts says he wants to plead guilty and detailed what happened.

I hereby acknowledge that on May 30, 2010, while acting as an officer for the South Bend (Indiana) Police Department, I arrested G.H. and transported him to the St. Joseph's County Jail. While at the Jail, I struck and injured G.H. in circumstances in which I knew that the force that I used was not reasonable. More specifically, in response to verbal comments directed toward me by G. H. while we were in the vestibule of the Jail, I repeatedly and forcefully pushed G. H., who was handcuffed behind his back, into a wall with my arm pressed against his head and throat and then, as multiple other officers attempted to intervene, G.H. attempted to come toward me, and I responded by striking G.H. in the face with a fist. This punch to G.H.'s head caused a laceration above his eye that required medical intervention, including multiple sutures. At the time of the incident, I knew that it was not reasonable or lawful to strike G.H. in the head in the circumstances involved in this incident.

Roberts will be in court December 14 for a plea hearing.