Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Former police officer Kevin Corcoran sentenced to 1 day in prison in Roderick King case

Former Philadelphia police officer Kevin Corcoran was sentenced Friday to serve one day in prison on his conviction in the case of alleged false imprisonment of an Iraq war veteran last March.

Former Philadelphia police officer Kevin Corcoran
Former Philadelphia police officer Kevin CorcoranRead morePhiladelphia Police

Former Philadelphia police officer Kevin Corcoran was sentenced Friday to serve one day in prison on his conviction in the case of alleged false imprisonment of an Iraq war veteran last March.

Corcoran, who was suspended and later lost his job, was acquitted at his trial of official oppression and false imprisonment of Air Force veteran Roderick King of Lansdale.

He was convicted of obstruction, a second-degree misdemeanor.

Jurors found that Corcoran broke the law when he failed to file required paperwork or log that he drove King to an alley before eventually releasing him without charge.

A video shows Corcoran knocking a phone out of King's hand and shouting, "Don't . . . touch me! Don't . . . touch me!"

Corcoran has said he acted in part because he saw King pull something from his pants - a cellphone.

King's friends captured cellphone images of Corcoran shoving King into his patrol car and speeding away.

King was detained and driven around for 16 minutes. He said Corcoran let him go after he identified himself as a veteran.

"I'll never be comfortable around law enforcement again," King said in a statement read in court Friday. Because of the incident, King said, he moved out of the Philadelphia area.

Common Pleas Court Judge Robert P. Coleman sentenced Corcoran to serve one day in prison - so he could be fitted with an ankle monitor - plus six months of house arrest and a year of probation.

Corcoran had been accused of handcuffing and improperly detaining King on March 31 after some people at 13th and Lombard Streets commented to the officer that he had made an illegal turn.

Prosecutors had wanted a three-month minimum sentence. Coleman, in issuing the shorter term, called the incident an aberration on Corcoran's 10-year career.

Corcoran, however, has a history of police brutality complaints, some of which were resolved in his favor.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Bonner said he was disappointed that Corcoran never accepted responsibility or apologized.

"Ultimately his actions make our city unsafe," he told the judge. "No man is above the law."

Corcoran's lawyer, Fortunato N. Perri Jr., said he advised his client not to give a sentencing statement because of King's pending lawsuit against Corcoran and the city.

"He's devastated about losing his job," Perri said.

King and his friends have jointly filed a lawsuit against the city, Corcoran, and his supervisors, seeking $1 million.