VIDEO: Jailer attacks handcuffed, mentally ill inmate

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The former inmate who was beaten while handcuffed by a civilian Houston police jailer says his attacker should have been punished more harshly.

"He is not the right person to wear that uniform," said Akrem Azzam.

Azzam was in jail on a deadly conduct charge after firing a gun.

For the first time now, video of that beaten can be seen publicly. The Houston Police Department just released it following a public information request by abc13. In it you can see civilian jailer Lasswon Shannon attack Azzam, while inside a cell and handcuffed. That was June 10, 2015.

"He think that he is man by beating me when I am cuffed? He is not a man," said Azzam.

Azzam had never seen the video before we showed it to him Thursday. He cringed and looked away as it played.

Shannon pleaded guilty last month to misdemanor assault, following investigations by both HPD and the Harris County District Attorney's Office. The DA's office says Azzam was mentally ill. Shannon was sentenced to a year of probation and fined $300. He also had to spend five days in the Harris County jail. That, Azzam says, is not punishment enough.

"He need to serve a few months," he said.

Azzam says Shannon was even more violent with him out of view of the jail's surveillance cameras, lifting him by his cuffed wrists, separating his shoulders. He admits spitting in Shannon's face, but says no action by a prisoner warrants an attack on someone who is cuffed and defenseless.

Shannon's attorney says his client wouldn't answer our questions directly. Attorney Mario Madrid said that Shannon has "...accepted responsibility and wants to move on with his life."

HPD says Shannon is still employed but has been relieved of duty.

As for what got Azzam in trouble in the first place: he ultimately got two years probation for threatening someone with a gun. He's considering suing over the beating.