Indianapolis Police Face Growing Questions After Killing 3 People in 8 Hours
The police in Indianapolis on Thursday faced mounting pressure to provide answers for a traumatic eight-hour stretch in the city in which police officers killed three people: a man shot by the police while he streamed the encounter live on Facebook; a pregnant woman who was fatally struck by an officer’s car; and a 19-year-old man who may have called 911 to lure the police to an apartment before firing at them.
Hundreds of protesters gathered downtown and at the scene of one of the shootings, a rare display of public grief and outrage in a state still largely shut down because of the coronavirus. Although the number of people killed by police officers in the city has dropped sharply in recent years, the string of deaths — and the harrowing circumstances of each — set off renewed scrutiny of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
Much of the protesters’ anger was directed at the first of the three encounters, in which Dreasjon Reed, 21, was shot and killed while running from a police officer after a car chase on Wednesday evening. Mr. Reed, whom the police said they pursued after seeing him nearly hit several cars, was streaming live on Facebook during the chase, and thousands of people were tuned in when he was shot.
Randal Taylor, the police chief, said on Thursday that a gun was found near Mr. Reed and that it had been fired twice, but that it was not clear “which shots were fired when.” Activists remained skeptical of the police account, and despite Mr. Reed’s video, critical questions remained unanswered; much of the encounter took place off-camera and the police said no body or dash cameras had recorded the killing.
The video did capture a morbid joke from a detective, out of view of the camera, after Mr. Reed was shot. “Think it’s going to be a closed casket, homie,” the detective said, apparently referring to Mr. Reed’s funeral. Chief Taylor said disciplinary action would be taken against the detective and called the comments “unacceptable.”
At the protests on Thursday, some who considered the killing unjust called for charges against the officer and said it followed a pattern for the Police Department, despite recent progress. It also recalled the death of Philando Castile, whose girlfriend recorded him on Facebook Live as he was dying after being shot by a police officer in Minnesota.
Erica Bailey, whose father was killed by Indianapolis officers after a police chase in 2017, said watching the video of Mr. Reed’s death had left her devastated again.
“This broke my heart,” Ms. Bailey said of Wednesday’s shooting. Her advice to the demonstrators: “Don’t give up.”
After the shooting of Ms. Bailey’s father, Aaron Bailey, who was unarmed, the police chief at the time called for the officers who shot him to be fired. They were cleared by a civilian review board in 2018, The Indianapolis Star reported.
On Thursday, protesters also gathered at the intersection in the northwest part of the city where Mr. Reed had parked his car before he was shot nearby. They blocked traffic, chanted and occasionally feuded with officers despite a plea from the local N.A.A.C.P. branch to avoid gathering in large groups because of the risk of falling ill with the coronavirus, though many wore masks.
Wednesday’s chase began when the department’s chief and deputy chief, who were each driving in an unmarked car, noticed Mr. Reed driving recklessly and sought to pull him over. Mr. Reed continued to drive and began recording himself on Facebook Live, saying he did not want to go to jail and pleading with someone to come get him. The car chase was called off because supervisors deemed it too dangerous, but as Mr. Reed left the car and fled on foot, another nearby officer ran after him, shooting and killing him.
Chief Taylor said at a news conferenceon Thursday that, in total, 15 shell casings had been recovered from the two guns, seemingly indicating that the officer had fired 13 shots. A series of loud bangs can be heard on the Facebook video around the time Mr. Reed falls to the ground, with most coming after he had fallen. The police said the officer had also tried to use his Taser.
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