The fever for police confronting Black people who are minding their business and bothering no one recently spread to Indianapolis. And like the other recent incidents, this one was recorded and shared on social media where it went viral.
On July 6, Shayne Holland, 23, left the fitness center at River Crossing at Keystone, a luxury apartment complex on the city’s north side, to go home. As he neared the pool, Holland decided to stop and relax for a spell. Little did he know that seemingly innocuous decision would lead to a confrontation with an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officer and result in he and his mother being banned from the pool.
After sitting in the pool area for about 30 minutes, Holland said an unfamiliar woman, dressed in all black and wearing a badge on the waistband of her pants approached him. According to Holland, the woman came from inside the office building and walked directly to him although there were other people — all white — at the pool, leading him to feel singled out.
“I did feel like I was racially discriminated against,” Holland said. Holland lives with his mom. Later both were told they are banned from the pool. He recorded the incident and posted the videos to Twitter. “I really don’t know what else it could’ve been.”
During the confrontation, the unidentified IMPD officer asks Holland for his address. He refused, saying he doesn’t know who the officer is since she wouldn’t provide her badge number. Instead, he held up a key that gives residents access to the fitness center as proof of residency. While Holland and the IMPD officer continue to go back and forth, the property manager, Candice Clingerman came outside to intervene. To Holland’s surprise, Clingerman took the officer’s side. Holland also expressed fear for his safety citing the murders of unarmed Black men by police officers, to which one of the women replied, “Oh, shut up.” One video shows the officer snatching the key from Holland’s hand.
{{tncms-inline account=”HollywoodShayne” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I asked everyone in the pool if the police officer asked their name address and confirmation. The white woman @ the pool responded, she didn’t do nearly as much for us as she did for you.. smh <a href="https://t.co/i9LLPaKRzQ">pic.twitter.com/i9LLPaKRzQ</a></p>&mdash; Quick (@HollywoodShayne) <a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodShayne/status/1015369192030261249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2018</a></blockquote>” id=”1015369192030261249″ type=”twitter”}}
“Candice comes outside, greets me by name, and at that point I feel like the conversation could’ve been over,” Holland said.
After reviewing the video, IMPD public information officer Sgt. Kendale Adams suggested Holland file an official complaint so the officer’s actions can be investigated.
“IMPD is aware of the video, however, we are not aware of official departmental complaint that has been filed,” Adams said. “This is the first step in discovering the full context of the interaction.”
Clingerman didn’t return a phone call left at the River Crossing office. Barrett and Stokely, the company that owns the apartment complex, however, did reply via email about the incident. Clingerman was placed on administrative leave, according to Lisa Noll, systems coordinator with Barrett and Stokely.
“We are disappointed that we weren’t able to handle this situation in a way in which everyone felt respected and understood,” Noll said. “We continue to investigate all claims and evaluate how we can better communicate our policies in the future,”
In addition, Barrett and Stokely released a statement about the incident.
“ … We take these claims seriously and as we continue to investigate, we have placed our property manager on administrative leave …We should have communicated with all residents that we would have security on site, who would be asking for proof of residency.”
Off-duty police officers were hired to provide security at the pool after two separate incidents where large crowds — many non residents — gathered at the pool and became unruly, Noll said.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>I asked everyone in the pool if the police officer asked their name address and confirmation. The white woman @ the pool responded, she didn’t do nearly as much for us as she did for you.. smh <a href=”https://t.co/i9LLPaKRzQ”>pic.twitter.com/i9LLPaKRzQ</a></p>— Quick (@HollywoodShayne) <a href=”https://twitter.com/HollywoodShayne/status/1015369192030261249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 6, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
“The police officers were instructed to ask every person at the pool for his or her name and address so they could confirm that the people at the pool were River Crossing residents,” she said.
Contact editor Oseye Boyd at 317-762-5850. Follow her on Twitter @oseye_boyd
Read the full statement from Barrett and Stokely below:
Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for reaching out to us. We take these claims seriously and as we continue to investigate, we have placed our property manager on administrative leave. We are disappointed that we weren’t able to handle this situation in a way in which everyone felt respected and understood. We should have communicated with all residents that we would have security on site, who would be asking for proof of residency. In an effort to maintain their privacy, please understand that we will not be able to share certain information about residents. We continue to evaluate how we can better communicate our policies in the future and ask that you reach out to us if you have any questions.
Thank you,
family by the pool
