Mother accuses IMPD child abuse detectives of mishandling a case where no charges filed

Indianapolis Star

5 days ago

Two Indianapolis police detectives defended their actions after a mother accused them of trying to railroad her on drug charges because her children were found unresponsive in a vehicle.
Test results would later prove the children didn't have drugs in their system, but the officers told the Citizens' Police Complaint Board that there was more to the investigation than what the mother laid out in her complaint against them.
The July 14 board meeting showcases the challenges members face when trying to sort through the person's allegations against police, as well as the nuances of investigations, how they play out, and what it takes to lead to prosecution.
Board members told IndyStar it's unusual for officers to attend and defend their actions against complaints, but Officer Caitlin Harris and Sgt. Nichole Flynn wanted the panel to have more context and information about their handling of the case that was not presented in the mother's complaint.
"We have seen a steep increase in children overdosing," Flynn explained. "It's gotten to the point where (medics are) immediately giving children presenting with symptoms of potential overdoses of Narcan. The children were given Nican, and one of them reacted positively to it."
Civilian board member Brett B. Thomas criticized the officers' initial approach to their investigation.
"It's almost as if somebody had already made up their mind that there were drugs involved," Thomas said.
The children more than likely suffered from heat-related illnesses, which can appear similar to a drug overdose, investigators determined.
Just before 12:50 p.m. on June 20, 2024, the mother pulled her 2014 Dodge Sedan into a CSV parking lot in the 6000 block of South Emerson Avenue to call 911. Indianapolis Fire and EMS arrived before the police, but relayed to the detectives what they were seeing while attempting to revive the children.
Medics told police one of the kids had responded to Narcan, and Riley Hospital staff also said one of the children vomited a gummy candy at the hospital. That information, along with video from the CVS showing the mother acting as if she was getting rid of something from her trunk after calling 911, led the officers to believe they were dealing with an overdose situation.
Detectives questioned the mother, who would later accuse Harris in her complaint of giving false information to a judge while obtaining a warrant to search the car, which turned up no drugs. The mother said Harris also accused her of having drugs in her system and being on fentanyl. The mother brought concerns about how Harris was investigating the case to Flynn, but later accused the sergeant of dismissing her claims.
IndyStar reached out to the mother who wasn't in the July 14 board meeting, but she declined to comment. The mother was never charged in the case.
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What the officers later learned was that the family appeared to be living in the car. The 4-year-old and 6-year-old were left alone for hours that day in the vehicle while their mother went to work as part of a cleaning team with a temp agency.
The day of the incident, it shows that she clocked in at one building at 6:30 a.m. and worked until about 9:30 a.m. before working at a different location until 12:30 p.m. Detectives were able to determine that she left the children in the car at the first building for three hours, drove six minutes to the second building down the street and left them in that same car for three more hours.
Indianapolis police Sgt. Wayne Shelton, who represents the department's Internal Affairs Unit, said the Marion County Prosecutor's Office didn't think there was enough evidence to bring charges. Riley Hospital for Children doctors, for example, couldn't definitively say why the children became unresponsive.
"We're not accusing the prosecutor's office of anything," Shelton said. "All we can do is present the facts."
Thomas felt the immediate issue should have been helping the children and giving them resources after speaking with the mother. He feels a conclusion was jumped to prematurely.
"Kids in the car that obviously shouldn't be living in a car," Thomas said. "It just seems like this could have unfolded in a different way with a different approach."
IMPD Internal Affairs Office found no fault with the officers' handling of the case.
The Citizens' Police Complaint Board, which makes independent decisions about whether it agrees with internal affairs' findings, opted to table its discussion on the matter for its next meeting.
"And that has more to do with some procedural things and other questions we've got," Board President Kenneth Riggins said.