This column probably won’t make me very popular in some circles, but I think a lot of people are forgetting that the person most responsible for the shooting death of Aaron Bailey last summer was Aaron Bailey himself.
You recall, Bailey was killed by two Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officers last year shortly after leading them on a high-speed chase at 1 a.m. The officers were cleared in the shooting by a special prosecutor, and the police merit board ruled that they should be reinstated to the force. Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett called for the officers to be fired and the activist crowd wanted the officers to be charged with murder.
I think what the mayor and the activists are failing to realize, either by default or design, that everything Bailey did that evening was a contributing factor to his own demise, and there were numerous points that night last summer, that had he did one thing differently he might still be alive today. Let me walk you through the timeline.
First of all, Bailey should not have been out in the first place. He was under home detention for robbery. And according to statements given to the special prosecutor by Shamika Ward, the passenger, Bailey had consumed half a pint of vodka before going out that evening. And they were going to make some money by taking bar soap, cutting it up and placing it in baggies to try to sell it as cocaine. (Note: This is a very quick way to get shot by someone other than law enforcement.)
Secondly, the initial traffic stop takes place at 1:30 in the morning. Ask anyone in law enforcement, and they will tell you, there is no such thing as a routine traffic stop. When the officer walks up and approaches a vehicle, there is a chance he or she won’t come back. And at 1:30 in the morning near 16th and Tremont streets. I will also argue those chances increase quite a bit.
Third, Bailey is pulled over after one of the officers (Carlton Howard) noticed it was the same car they saw earlier at a gas station with all four doors open and no occupants. And after running a plate check, they discovered Bailey’s license was suspended.
Fourth, during the traffic stop, the officer asked Bailey for his I.D. Bailey said he didn’t have one, and, according to officer Ward, told him it was no big deal and to calm down because he could see Bailey was getting more agitated.
Fifth, when officer Howard ran a check on both Bailey and Ward, he saw that Bailey had a number of criminal arrests and convictions and he was a suspect in multiple robberies. Ward was being monitored for a homicide, and any officer who came in contact with her was to detain her and notify the detective.
Sixth, the second police officer (Michael Dinnsen) arrives on the scene, and when Howard asks Bailey to get out of the car (twice), Bailey rolls up his window and flees. The high-speed chase ensues, dispatch is notified, Bailey eventually crashes into a tree.
Seventh, officers Howard and Dinnsen pull up to crash, get out of his car, draw their weapons and notice the airbags have been deployed. Howard says Bailey had his back to him and he could not see his hands. They kept telling Bailey to show them his hands. Ward raised her hands; Bailey kept rummaging near the center console. They continued to order Bailey to show his hands, Bailey began to turn around and the officers discharged their weapons.
Based on these facts, the person most responsible for Aaron Bailey’s death is Aaron Bailey. He would not have had to die at the hands of IMPD officers had he not been out in violation of his probation, not made the choice to cut up bar soap and pass it off as drugs to sell, not fled during the traffic stop and complied with the officers when they immediately told him to show his hands.
We can argue about whether IMPD should have had to two relatively new officers on patrol at that time of day, that’s a fair question. And we can look at the protocols for discharging a weapon to make sure they are appropriate. But when you look at it in the aggregate, based on these facts, it is extremely unlikely Aaron Bailey would have died had he made different choices, and looking at the facts, he had several opportunities to do so, but chose otherwise.
