Oct. 03--The former second in command at the Midlothian Police Department was sentenced to 15 months in prison Friday for repeatedly striking a man with a metal baton without legal justification outside a bar nearly four years ago.
Steven Zamiar, a 13-year veteran who rose to deputy police chief with the small south suburban department, nodded his head slightly as U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman handed down a sentence far below what prosecutors sought.
In her ruling, Coleman said Zamiar abused the trust placed in him by the community when he beat James Snyder as drunken crowds spilled out of a popular tavern early on Thanksgiving morning 2011. Snyder suffered welts and bruises across his back and head.
"You crossed the line from being a trusted authority figure to being an officer out of control," Coleman told Zamiar as his wife and other relatives sobbed in the courtroom gallery.
But the judge said prosecutors were overreaching by seeking up to 71/2 years in prison, noting that even the victim didn't feel like a lengthy prison term was warranted.
Zamiar was "primed for a fight" when he went to Durbin's bar on Cicero Avenue to conduct surveillance on the crowd of revelers, prosecutors said in a recent court filing. As Snyder walked to his girlfriend's car, Zamiar approached in plainclothes with his baton drawn and chased Snyder through the parking lot, swinging repeatedly at his back and head.
At his trial in December, Zamiar testified that he struck Snyder only after he refused to obey commands, turned toward him and got into a fighting position.
But Zamiar's former underling, Sgt. Edmund Olmos, backed up Snyder's version of events, telling the jury that he saw Zamiar strike the man as he was trying to run for cover.
The jury deliberated just two hours before convicting Zamiar of violating Snyder's civil rights by excessive force.
Before the sentence was handed down Friday, Zamiar, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit and shackled at the ankles, wept as he apologized to his family, the community and Snyder "for any suffering he has been through," saying he never meant to hurt him. Zamiar, who was fired from the department after his indictment in 2013, said he'd grown up wanting to be a policeman and to have his career end this way was devastating.
"My name will now be associated as part of a problem with law enforcement, and I am truly sorry for that," said Zamiar, 48, pausing to lift his glasses and wipe his eyes with a tissue.
In arguing for a stiff sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Otlewski said that as a commanding officer, Zamiar was supposed to be setting an example for others on the force. Instead, his actions spoke of the arrogance of a cop who believes he's above the law, Otlewski said.
"He put on that display of power," Otlewski said. "He showed them who the law is. What sort of example does that set?"
Zamiar has faced other allegations of abuse, Otlewski said. In one case, Zamiar was accused of kicking an armed robbery suspect in the face while he was on the ground in handcuffs. In another, Zamiar allegedly punched a teen vandal in the face repeatedly, blackening both of his eyes, the prosecutor said.
Court records show Zamiar was also accused in a 2007 lawsuit of giving a suspect a concussion while trying to arrest him.
Zamiar's lawyers, Damon Cheronis and Ralph Meczyk, asked the judge to sentence the decorated officer to the four months he'd already served since being taken into custody earlier this year.
Cheronis accused the government of using rumors and other unproven allegations in his past to try to "jack up" Zamiar's sentence.
jmeisner@tribpub.com
