Source: Eric Fernandez / Eric Fernandez
INDIANAPOLIS — You may have heard about religious groups in Indianapolis calling for the resignation of Indy’s top cop and an investigation into the department. Those calls are being made once again.
In a press release issued Tuesday evening, the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis and the Baptist Minister’s Alliance point to Tuesday morning’s police shooting of a man in a tree as the latest example of why IMPD’s approach to policing is flawed.
IMPD says their officers were called about shots-fired Tuesday, and they saw a car speed away from the area as they arrived. The officers eventually tracked down that car and its driver, who ran away on foot and climbed a tree. IMPD claims the man demanded police shoot him.
IMPD claims the man then reached for his pocket, and that’s when he was shot.
The clergy calls the shooting ‘egregious’ and says several department-wide steps need to be taken to sharpen IMPD’s de-escalation tactics.
The clergy also wants a Department of Justice investigation into IMPD’s practices.
There have been around a dozen police shootings in Indianapolis since August. A few IMPD officers have recently called into question the department’s role in these shootings, and questioned if there needs to be some kind of change in IMPD’s behavior, the public’s behavior, or both.
Some IMPD officers remain firm in their position that police would not have to take these actions if potential suspects would stop resisting or acting in a way that an officer may deem life-threatening.
