Source: Eric Fernandez / Eric Fernandez
INDIANAPOLIS — The criminal case against two Indianapolis police officers is built on hindsight information, says the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police President.
“Yeah guys, I think it’s a terrible example,” Rick Snyder talking to WIBC’s Hammer & Nigel, “that reminds us that anytime officers are required to use force, especially force to defend their lives against any perception of a deadly threat, it’s a tragedy for everyone involved. Not just the subjects that the officers are interacting with but the officers and their families as well.”
Snyder’s talking about the December, 2022 police shooting of Anthony Maclin. Officers Carl Chandler and Alexander Gregory with Indianapolis Metro Police are facing several criminal charges, including battery and criminal recklessness.
Snyder argues the case has been built on public information that was released much later, after the incident happened. He says the officers didn’t have an abundance of knowledge with them when they arrived – they were just called to help, says Snyder.
“And I think that it’s vitally important that the community keep in mind that facts matter, and you have to stay focused on what the officers knew at the time,” Indy’s FOP president explains.
Officers were called to Maclin’s grandmother’s home. She didn’t recognize the car in her driveway, which had Florida license plates.
Police body camera video shows the officers approach the car, which appears to show Anthony Maclin asleep with what officers claim was a gun in his lap.
The cops agree to knock on the window, and almost immediately after they do, they begin shouting “police” and are just barely able to speak the words “hands up” before 30 rounds of gunshots were fired at Maclin’s car. Anthony Maclin survived and told his grandmother on the scene that he was asleep in the car because he didn’t want to come inside and wake her up.
Rick Snyder claims all evidence presented to the grand jury by Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears was cherry-picked and not chosen to provide a defense for the police, thus making it a foregone conclusion that the grand jury would return indictments.
Snyder tells WIBC’s Hammer & Nigel, “I think when the facts come out, we’ll see that we should have never been in criminal court of law to begin with.”
The Maclin family has filed a civil lawsuit against officers Chandler and Gregory, their supervisor, Chief of Police Randal Taylor, and the city of Indianapolis.
