Chicago cop gets 3 yrs. in beating

CHICAGO - A city police officer caught on hospital-security footage repeatedly striking a man who was handcuffed to a wheelchair has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison.

William Cozzi had pleaded guilty to a civil-rights violation for inflicting the beating in a hospital emergency room.

The man was the victim of a stabbing and had been brought to the hospital. Cozzi was sent to the hospital to investigate.

Cozzi had earlier pleaded guilty to a state misdemeanor charge and was sentenced to 18 months of probation. But Chicago police Superintendent Jody Weis referred the case to the federal government. *