48.3 F
Indianapolis
Friday, March 29, 2024

Ministers upset with deal in police battery case

More by this author

Community leaders and relatives of a teenager who experienced an altercation with Indianapolis police last summer are upset that an officer involved with the incident will keep his job.

A group of ministers held a press conference at Second Baptist Church recently in support of Bryan Jeter, who was kicked by an IMPD officer on a downtown street on July 21 while participating in last yearā€™s Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration.

A videotape of the incident shows Jeter, now 18, being held down by two officers while a third, Officer Adam Chappell, kicks him in the face.

ā€œIn this situation you have a young man who is handcuffed with two cops on his back while an officer walks away then comes back to kick him in the face. Thatā€™s clearly out of line for an officer of the law,ā€ said Rev. David W. Greene, pastor of Second Baptist Church.

The Marion County Prosecutorā€™s Office initially charged Chappell with battery, but those charges were dropped recently in a diversion agreement, which has upset Greene and Jeterā€™s mother, Fredereka Hill. They are urging city officials and IMPD to fire Chappell.

ā€œSince Michael Taylor was killed in the back of a police car (in 1987) we have witnessed a trend here with regards to the police and the minority community, whether it involves tasing or physical abuse,ā€ said Greene.

Greene and Hill added that the community must ā€œstand upā€ and do everything possible to prevent alleged cases of police abuse in the future. They also mentioned the recent death of Henry Bryant, 35, who died a few weeks ago after being shocked with a police Taser following an altercation at a Westside restaurant.

ā€œIn our situation it was Bryan, but whoā€™s next?ā€ Hill asked. ā€œIā€™m not just standing up for my son, but for the next personā€™s child because this needs to stop.ā€

Greene, Rev. Clyde Posley of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Methodist Hospital chaplain Rev. Dr. Frances Nelson Williams and other ministers have been meeting with Public Safety Director Scott Newman and IMPD Chief Michael Spears to see if further action can be taken against Chappell.

Under the diversion agreement, charges against Chappell will likely be dropped if he promises to attend an IMPD training program on the use of force, acknowledge that he was arrested for ā€œprobable causeā€ of causing bodily injury, pay a fee of $150 and avoid criminal activity.

ā€œDiversion agreements are common for misdemeanor defendants who have no criminal history,ā€ explained Matthew Symons, a spokesman for the Marion County prosecutorā€™s office.

Symons cited several recent cases, most involving battery misdemeanors, in which the defendants agreed to undergo some kind of counseling, training or community service in exchange for charges being dropped.

The most prominent examples of recent diversion agreements involved Indiana Pacers Jamaal Tinsley and Marquis Daniels, who were involved in an incident at a bar.

Greene and Hill believe that Chappell, who was suspended with pay, has not truly faced justice and that any officer who abuses a citizen should be taken off the street. They have advised IMPD to terminate Chappell while the department is conducting an internal investigation of the incident.

In his police report Chappell explained that Jeter ā€œforcefullyā€ resisted the officers, kicked two of them and had to be taken to the ground in order to be handcuffed.

William Owensby, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 86 in Indianapolis, explained that Chappell, like other officers in similar situations, had to make the best possible decision in a scenario that could have escalated immediately.

ā€œIt was clear that the subject was at least resisting to the extent that Officer Chappell thought he had to take him to the ground to get the situation under control,ā€ said Owensby. ā€œWith the extent of any large, dynamic event, whether itā€™s Expo, the Final Four, or the Indy 500 you always have the potential for something to get out of hand and spread if you donā€™t deal with the potential for trouble quickly.ā€

Owensby added that Chappellā€™s kick was not intended to cause physical injury, but to initiate what police call a ā€œchange channel,ā€ which forces a suspect to think about something else other than physically resisting officers.

ā€œYou can tell just by the way Officer Chappell placed it that it wasnā€™t a kick,ā€ he said. ā€œYou donā€™t kick a soccer ball or football like that. It wasnā€™t designed to cause injury it was designed to cause a momentary interruption in the nerves of his arm.ā€

Owensby added that it is a shame that officers are often judged on decisions they have to make in a split second during threatening situations. He believes that the diversion agreement Chappell received is fair, but said it is unfair that Jeter avoided any accountability from prosecutors for resisting arrest.

ā€œJeter should also have gone through the court process for the sake of fairness,ā€ stated Owensby. ā€œOnly he (Jeter) knows for certain whether the officer truly caused injury to his face or if it was caused by him tooling around and wrestling.ā€

Jeter and his mother currently live in Rockford, Ill., but were born and raised in Indianapolis and still have many relatives here. Jeter attended Expo activities with his younger brother.

ā€œIf Bryan reacted a certain way it was because he was concerned for his brother,ā€ said Hill. ā€œHe doesnā€™t have a history of violent behavior and never had a criminal record.ā€

Hill described her son as ā€œa typical teenagerā€ who loves to play basketball and volunteers some of his free time to assist elderly individuals in his neighborhood. After graduation from high school he plans to attend Rockford College.

ā€œIt (the kick) was premeditated because the officer wasnā€™t in a situation where he had to be concerned about reacting,ā€ said Hill. ā€œHe walked away and he had time to think about what he was going to do and to me thatā€™s violent.ā€

- Advertisement -
ads:

Upcoming Online Townhalls

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

To be updated with all the latest local news.

Stay connected

1FansLike
1FollowersFollow
1FollowersFollow
1SubscribersSubscribe

Related articles

Popular articles

EspaƱol + Translate Ā»
Skip to content