Ex-cop accused in beating of Black man in Alabama gets probation on federal charges
A former police officer in Selma, Alabama, won’t go to federal prison after he pleaded guilty to tampering with a witness in a use-of-force investigation involving a Black man assaulted during a traffic stop last year, prosecutors said.
Instead, a federal judge sentenced him to five years’ probation and ordered him to pay $300 in special assessments.
Matthew Blaine Till, 34, is accused of beating a man in April 2020 with a sheriff’s deputy after his wife called him to report a “road rage incident,” according to state and federal investigators. Almost immediately, federal prosecutors said Till began telling the deputy not to talk about the phone call he had with his wife.
“We hold law enforcement officers to a high standard and if they violate the rights of citizens and, as in this case, obstruct justice by attempting to cover up what they have done, we will vigorously prosecute them,” U.S. Attorney Richard W. Moore said in a news release Friday.
Till was fired from the Selma Police Department and, as part of his federal plea agreement, is barred from working in local, municipal, state or federal law enforcement — including as a corrections officer or private security guard.
Defense attorney Mickey McDermott, who is representing Till, told McClatchy News in a statement Friday they “believe that the sentence was appropriate given Officer Till’s dedicated service to his community and the nation.”
‘We are both going to be getting in trouble’
According to court filings, Till and a Dallas County sheriff’s deputy were parked together in separate vehicles on April 30 when Till’s wife called to say she had been in a road dispute with “a black guy in a red Charger.”
His wife said the man was turning around in a nearby gas station, after which prosecutors said Till and the deputy sped through several intersections with their sirens activated to reach the driver.
“Till blazed three miles down one of Selma’s busiest roads in the middle of the afternoon, lights and sirens blaring, through multiple red lights, past several churches and residential neighborhoods, and through a school zone,” prosecutors said in court filings. “He and the deputy put lives at risk running at high speeds across town as a result of a perceived slight to Till’s wife.”
Till and the deputy reportedly caught up to the man, who is not named in court documents, at the gas station and waited for him to pull out.
Prosecutors said they pulled him over a half-mile from the gas station and turned on their body cameras, which captured the “frenetic 90-second encounter.” Till is accused of approaching the man at gunpoint, firing his taser at him multiple times, threatening to shoot him, and hitting him in the head and face.
The man escaped but crashed his car about two miles away, according to court filings. He was arrested and interviewed by federal agents regarding firearms in the car, prosecutors said.
In the months that followed, Till tried on multiple occasions to keep the deputy from mentioning the phone call with his wife to investigators, court documents said.
After federal agents got the body cam footage from the incident and interviewed the deputy, prosecutors said Till texted him saying, “The indictments are coming for us, we need to get on the same page and get the same attorney. I don’t care what they threatened you with. If we don’t fight this together we are both going to be getting in trouble.”
A bid for leniency
Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson announced in September that a state grand jury had indicted Till and the deputy, John Nicholas Taccone, on felony assault charges, AL.com reported.
Jackson described the incident as a “brutal beating,” according to the media outlet.
The three-count indictment charges Till with second-degree assault, first-degree unlawful imprisonment and obstructing governmental operations. The case is ongoing.
Till pleaded guilty to federal charges in the Southern District of Alabama around the same time. The charges amounted to three felony counts of obstruction of justice by corrupt persuasion of a witness, which carried a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and up to $250,000 in fines.
In a request for leniency to the judge, Till’s defense attorney pointed to his career in law enforcement and previous military service. He asked for a sentence of home confinement or probation.
“Law enforcement officers are historically over-protective of their families and Matthew Till is no different,” his defense attorney wrote.
But prosecutors said that Till made that assertion “without evidence” and was shirking responsibility for his actions. They asked the judge for a sentence between 1.75 and 2.25 years in prison.
“Till was not engaged in a chivalrous effort to protect his family; he was engaged in an effort to protect himself,” prosecutors said in sentencing documents. “The court should not countenance Till’s self-serving effort to deceive.”
Prosecutors also said Till’s record in law enforcement was “littered with disciplinary infractions, terminations, and even a civil-rights lawsuit relating to his on-duty conduct.” They said he’d already been fired from police departments in East Brewton, Flomaton and Monroeville, Alabama.
“Till’s history in law enforcement is indicative of an officer who did not take seriously the awesome power and accompanying responsibility entrusted to men and women in uniform who are sworn to enforce the law,” prosecutors wrote. “He now refuses to own up to his criminal intent.”
Though prosecutors recommended a sentence in custody, Moore said “ultimately it was the judge’s decision to put Till on probation.”
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Ex-cop accused in beating of Black man in Alabama gets probation on federal charges."
