Source: (PHOTO: WISH-TV)
INDIANAPOLIS – Herman Whitfield III died in police custody while having a mental health crisis in April last year. Thursday, two IMPD officers were criminally charged in his death.
“These indictments should be respected by elected officials because the community said so, and they are elected by the community,” said Herman Whitfield’s father in a press conference Thursday afternoon.
Herman’s mother, Gladys, wanted the officers to be held accountable. “We were being gaslighted to believe that what was done to our son was proper, lawful, legal, justified, and that our son deserved to die.”
The mother and father said they weren’t sure if the healing process of losing a son had begun.
Patrol officers Steven Sanchez and Adam Ahmad, both two-year officers at the time of Whitfield’s death, have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, and battery. In total, five charges have been filed against Ahmad and six against Sanchez.
