Gregory M. Mussmacher is back in the news, to everyone's surprise. He's a Baltimore police officer who in June 2005 was sentenced to a suspended two-year prison term after being convicted of hitting a handcuffed and shackled 17-year-old juvenile in the face and back with an expandable baton in the Northwest District station.

At the time, Mussmacher was suspended without pay. On Wednesday, we got word from the U.S. Department of Justice that Mussmacher (described as a current officer) and two now-retired officers have been indicted in connection with the same case. Mussmacher, former Officer Guy Gerstel and and former Sgt. Wayne Thompson face civil rights and obstruction of justice charges.

Federal prosecutors took over the case after the Mussmacher's conviction was overturned on appeal. The U.S. Attorney's Office alleges that Mussmacher and Gerstel assaulted the youth with a pool stick and that Thompson wrote a false statement and "corruptly" persuaded the other officers "not to fill out required reports about the incident."

A spokesman told The Baltimore Sun that Mussmacher has been suspended with pay for the past five years.

We don't have a full explanation yet but typically the department waits until the criminal case, including appeals, is complete before moving forward with administrative sanctions. In this case, it is probable that they couldn't take disciplinary action until the feds had finished their work. Still, this seems an unusually long time.

The victim in the case sued the city in federal court and won a settlement that has not been disclosed. The complaint filed in the civil division says the youth, Benjamin Ruben Rowland, had an argument with his sister on April 27, 2004, in their apartment. The sister called police and Mussbacher was one of several who responded.

The complaint says Mussmacher found Rowland at a nearby street corner on Reisterstown Road in Northwest Baltimore and arrested him. After the young man complained that the handcuffs wree too tight and talked back to the officer, the complaint says "Mussmacher removed his handcuffs, removed his own gun belt, and offered to fight." The youth declined.

When the boy complained again, the civil complaint says Mussmacher "balled up his fist and violently and maliciously struck plaintiff in the face, as well as spraying mace in his face." At the station, the complaint says Mussmacher hit him again with his nightstick and that Gertsel hit him with a baton or pool cue, "causing even more injuries."

Here is the indictment from federal prosecutors: