Source: Photo: (gorodenkoff/getty images)
INDIANAPOLIS — You may have seen the body camera video of Denise Hatch, an elected Marion County township constable, confronting IMPD police officers while evicting someone in Indianapolis last week.
Hatch is seen on video getting in the officers’ faces in a confrontation in which she claims the officers pushed her to the ground and nearly “killed” her, as she put it. She told reporters on Thursday that the eviction should not have happened.
“Tenants have a right to be treated with compassion,” Hatch said. “Chantel had an application for a stay (of the eviction). She had a stay. You all don’t understand what was at stake here. Chantel was about to be arrested.”
However, court documents say that a judge rejected that application for a delay in the eviction.
Hatch is now being charged with contempt of court for trying to stop the eviction from happening, even though it is actually her job to make sure evictions are carried out when ordered. Hatch’s lawyer believes the charge comes from a place of bias from the judge.
“This is a case that is apparently as significant as the Trump trial because they are making the case bigger than it actually is,” said Roberta Robb, Hatch’s attorney. “I don’t think there is any question there is bias.”
Robb also accused IMPD of withholding footage from the body camera recording of the incident that shows Hatch being shoved down some stairs as Hatch has accused the officers of doing.
In a court hearing Thursday the judge has Hatch swear under oath to make sure she executes all future orders handed down by the court.
