Beat me like that. >> A former Spokane County sergeant now faces federalable charges for beating a man so badly the jail wouldn't take him. >> Was he acting above the law? That's silly. No, absolutely not. Um, did he use excessive force? We've got a use of force expert who says no. He was acting completely within the bounds of the law. I've spoken to dozens of law enforcement officers who have all said it's exactly what I would have done. >> A 62-year-old man ends up with shattered ribs, a punctured lung, a concussion, and the sergeant who did it, he didn't just use excessive force. According to the DOJ, he lied to cover it up. This is the case of former Spokane County Sergeant Klay Hilton, and it is one of the most disturbing thin blue lies I've seen yet. happened back in August of 2023 as Kevin Hinton rested in his car outside Terrace View Park in Spokane Valley. Sergeant Klay Hilton arrested him for being in the park after dark. Prosecutors later dropped Hinton's charges. >> August 2023. A routine call turns into a medical emergency. According to federal prosecutors, Sergeant Hilton delivered a beating so violent that the victim suffered multiple broken ribs, a punctured lung, a concussion, a disfigured lip, and dental trauma. These aren't oops, my bad injuries. These are the type of injuries you see in high-speed collisions, not during an arrest of a 62year-old man. >> Good afternoon and thank you for joining us for Creme 2 News First at 4. I'm Mark Hanraan. The new charges come after a federal grand jury indicted former Sergeant Hilton this month. Creme 2 Shannon Mauy spoke with Hilton's attorney today who says this entire thing is unfair and unbelievable. Shannon, >> the federal grand jury not only found Sergeant Hilton violated Kevin Hinton's rights during a 2023 arrest. He lied on official police reports. We do want to warn you, some of what you see in this video is graphic. >> Listen, you are going to get hurt. Clay Hilton now faces federal criminal charges for beating Kevin Hinton during an August 2023 arrest. A federal grand jury found the former Spokane County Sheriff's Office sergeant deprived Hinton's rights by punching on the ground >> and kneeing him. They also found Hilton lied in his field report when he said he saw knives in Hinton's car. >> And then comes the part every accountability channel knows too well, the paperwork. Because according to the DOJ, Sergeant Hilton didn't just falsify his report. He invented a threat that never existed. He wrote that he saw knives. A dramatic detail that somehow never appeared in the body cam, never showed up in witness statements, and surprise, was never found at the scene. But it does appear in his report right where he needed it to justify a beating that left a 62year-old man with shattered ribs and a punctured lung. Nothing transforms excessive force into officer safety quite like imagining weapons out of thin air. It's not just creative writing anymore. It's fiction with victims. I have a client who was upholding the law, putting his life on the line for the benefit of a community, and uh now he's being prosecuted for it. And I I'm just in disbelief. >> Brian Hirschman represents Hilton in this new federal case and his criminal case in Spokane County Court. >> And now let's talk about the attorney. Hilton's lawyer isn't just unhappy about the charges. He's aggravated, outraged, offended that the Department of Justice dared to indict a former sergeant for beating a 62-year-old man so badly he punctured his lung. But what really gets him heated, how the charges were brought. You see, the DOJ didn't quietly slip this into a backroom meeting. They didn't ask the department for permission. They didn't run it through the just suspend him and hope it goes away pipeline. They convened a federal grand jury. They presented evidence and that grand jury made up of regular citizens, not activists, said there was enough to indict. And somehow that's what offends the attorney most. >> I'm real aggravated about the charges being brought and even more aggravated in how they were brought. >> Hirshman says he and Hilton knew for months federal charges were being considered, but says they were surprised when the indictment was released last week. We engaged in a U settlement conference in person with the federal government and the state authorities in an attempt to resolve this. >> An arrest warrant was issued for Hilton after the indictment. This week, it was dropped. Federal prosecutors declined to keep him in custody. He's pleading not guilty. Crypto News did not receive a response from federal prosecutors on the case. >> I've represented police officers in state court on several occasions. I this is and I say this is my first federal representation. I believe it is. What's even more rare is that they would piggyback on charges that were already filed in state court. >> Hilton's attorney is not just irritated. He is professionally offended. First, he's irritated that his client was charged at all. And now he's upset that the legal negotiations, the quiet backroom deal where this all could have disappeared, didn't go his way. Translation: He wanted this wrapped up neatly with a bow without sunlight, without accountability, and definitely without federal jurors hearing the evidence. He's not angry at injustice. He's angry that the system didn't bend the way it usually does for law enforcement defendants. He's angry that negotiations didn't produce a discount version of accountability he could call a resolution. He's angry that the DOJ didn't wait for everyone in the room to hold hands and agree to let this die. So, yes, counselor, be upset that settlement talks broke down. Be upset the state case didn't shield your client. Be upset the feds stepped in. Be upset that piggybacking means this time the case didn't vanish. But don't confuse your frustration with injustice. What broke down wasn't the settlement. It was the old system that used to protect people like your client. >> Hilton's set to stand trial in Spokane County in March. Charged with false swearing and assault, Sheriff John Nolles fired Hilton in September 2024. The sheriff said his conduct was clearly outside policy. Other members of the sheriff's office, including supervisors, were also disciplined. >> Was he acting above the law? That's silly. No, absolutely not. Um, did he use excessive force? We've got a use of force expert who says, "No, acting completely within the bounds of the law." I've spoken to dozens of law enforcement officers who have all said, "It's exactly what I would have done. Exactly what I have done." >> So, when the attorney proudly repeats that officers told him, "That's exactly what I would have done, and worse, that's what we have done." He thinks he's defending his client. But what he's actually doing is describing the culture that created him. Because if dozens of officers admit this isn't unusual, if they say this is normal, routine, expected, then this case was never about one sergeant. It's about an entire system that sees violence as instinct and accountability as an inconvenience. And maybe that's why the settlement talks collapsed. Maybe that's why the DOJ stepped in. Maybe that's why federal charges were necessary. Because when a system openly confesses its own rot, you don't negotiate with it, you expose it. And that's what this case is. Not an outlier, not a one-off, a spotlight. A spotlight on the culture behind the badge, the silence that protects it, and the thin blue lies that hold it together until someone finally pulls the thread. Let me know what you think in the comments. And as always, sunlight is still the best disinfectant.