GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP — A former police officer could face four years in prison for hitting a 13-year-old girl who was partially in handcuffs, after Camden County prosecutors had requested nearly double that sentence.

John Flinn, who is now 30, was convicted on official misconduct for the 2018 incident caught on another Gloucester Township Police Officer's body camera.

Superior Court Judge Edward McBride proposed a sentence of four years with the final decision to be made on Thursday, May 6.

Body cam footage that the Camden County Prosecutor's Office previously released to New Jersey 101.5 shows the girl being restrained as police enter what appears to be an office. The video cuts to the girl face down on boxes and bags with her arms behind her back. Flinn slaps her twice on the side of the face and then pushes her head down as he tells her to "stop resisting," at one point putting his knee on her shoulder.

The sentence has not been imposed ahead of the decision being made in court, according to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.

A spokesman said they are carefully considering options ahead of that hearing, including the right to appeal the sentence.

McBride proposed the sentence after receiving a request by Flinn's attorney, Louis Barbone, who said the minimum five-year sentence “would be a serious injustice,” as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Barbone pointed to Flinn's public service record before the incident, after which he lost his position as an officer, according to the same report.

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