16 hours ago
IMPD responds after video of arrest in downtown Indy sparks criticisms
Multiple videos circulating on social media June 15 depict an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer shooting a man with a high-pressure air launcher before tackling him to the ground in downtown Indianapolis.
The videos caused some in the community to question whether the IMPD officer used excessive force and if the department would hold the officer accountable, leading IMPD to release a statement saying the incident would undergo a "thorough administrative review."
"It's important to note that the videos currently circulating capture only a portion of the incident and what was occurring in the area at the time," the department's statement read. "We are continuing to gather information about what led up to and followed the events depicted in the video clips."
A video shared on social media starts by showing a Black man attempting to walk away from an IMPD officer, while asking the officer "why are you walking up with that," pointing to a weapon in the officer's hands.
The officer can then be seen putting his hand on the man's chest and slightly pushing the man back. The man then slaps the officer's hand, after which the officer shoots him three times with a TIB90 Pepper Ball launcher from Sabre Red — a projectile weapon that law enforcement describe as nonlethal.
"Are you serious? What am I doing," the man says after being shot, according to the video.
The officer can then be seen grabbing the man as he tries to tackle him to the ground. At one point, the officer yells at the man to "get on the ground," before pushing him to the ground.
That's when three other IMPD officers can be seen getting on top of the man as they try to detain him.
While the man is on the ground, another officer can be seen punching him multiple times, before he goes motionless for a few seconds as police attempt to place handcuffs on him.
In the video, a bystander can be heard yelling, "What is they doing. They're beating the f--- out of him."
Police then sit the man up before taking him away, according to the video.
Shortly after 4 p.m. June 15, IMPD released a statement about the videos, acknowledging the department had seen them and offering preliminary details of what officers say took place.
Shortly after bars in downtown Indianapolis closed for the night, officers in IMPD's event response group were working to manage a large crowd that had formed after two men started to fight one another, shortly before 3:30 a.m., according to the statement.
Officers intervened and separated the two men after giving verbal orders, police said. One of the men then attempted to walk away from the altercation, while the other remained.
That's when the man seen in the video allegedly "squared his shoulders" towards an officer, according to police. This prompted the officer to stick out his hand to create some distance from the man before the man slapped his hand away, the statement read.
The officer then fired three shots at the man, as depicted in the video.
The department said the officer threw the man to the ground because he believed the man was attempting to flee, and another officer punched the man three times in order to "gain control" of the situation.
IMPD has not released the names of the officers involved.
The man was preliminarily charged with disorderly conduct, battery of a public safety official, resisting law enforcement and possession of marijuana, according to police.
Police later determined the man was armed, and officers recovered a weapon on the ground after he was taken into custody.
The department noted the incident will go through the administrative review process to determine if the office's use of force was reasonable.
