2 Indianapolis police officers face trial in Black man's death during mental health crisis

[December 02, 2024]  By RICK CALLAHAN

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two Indianapolis police officers are set to stand trial Monday in the death of a Black man after police shocked him with a Taser and restrained him face down during a mental health crisis in his parents' home.

Officers Adam Ahmad and Steven Sanchez were indicted by a grand jury in April 2023 in Herman Whitfield III’s 2022 death. The officers, who have been on administrative leave, are being tried together as co-defendants.

The men both face one felony count each of involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, battery resulting in serious bodily injury and battery resulting in moderate injury, and one misdemeanor battery charge.

Opening statements are set for Monday morning in the trial, which is expected to last five days.

Ahmad, 32, and Sanchez, 35, were indicted after Whitfield’s family had spent nearly a year demanding that police release full body camera videos of his encounter with officers and called for the firing of up to six officers.

The videos, which were released in January 2023, document Whitfield's final moments alive during a chaotic encounter with police.

Whitfield’s parents called 911 on April 25, 2022, and reported that their 39-year-old son, a gifted pianist, was in the throes of a mental health crisis at the family’s Indianapolis home.

Responding officers found Whitfield naked and pacing inside the home. Body camera videos show officers trying to convince Whitfield to put on clothing so he could be taken to a hospital. But Whitfield did not dress, and he avoided contact with the officers, moving from room to room.

Whitfield is eventually seen running past a dining room table before Sanchez shocks him with a Taser and Whitfield falls to the floor, toppling furniture. Sanchez, Ahmad and other officers are seen holding a struggling Whitfield face down on the floor while they work to handcuff him.

Whitfield can be heard saying “can't breathe” a few times and exclaiming before he eventually falls silent. When officers rolled the handcuffed Whitfield over, he was unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The Marion County Coroner’s Office ruled Whitfield’s death a homicide. An autopsy lists his cause of death as “cardiopulmonary arrest in the setting of law enforcement subdual, prone restraint, and conducted electrical weapon use.”

This undated photo provided by Hilary Close shows Herman Whitfield III, who died in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department custody on April 25, 2022. (Hilary Close via AP)

According to the report, Whitfield weighed 389 pounds (176 kilograms). The coroner's office listed “morbid obesity” and “hypertensive cardiovascular disease” as contributing factors in his death.

The officers’ attorney, John Kautzman, had sought to have the charges dismissed against both men, arguing in part that the grand jury proceedings were “defective” and that “the facts stated do not constitute an offense.”

The court dismissed a second count of involuntary manslaughter Sanchez had faced, but it allowed the remaining charges against the officers to proceed to trial.

Kautzman said the involuntary manslaughter charge that was dismissed involved Sanchez's use of a Taser against Whitfield.

“The only thing I’ll say on record, which I’ve said before, is we believe these officers did not commit any criminal actions whatsoever and that they shouldn’t be standing trial for crimes," Kautzman said last week.

Both Sanchez and Ahmad remain on administrative duty with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

A civil lawsuit filed by Whitfield's family against the city of Indianapolis and six police officers, including Ahmad and Sanchez, states that Whitfield “died because of the force used against him” and calls the force used against him “unreasonable and excessive.”

“Mr. Whitfield needed professional mental health care, not the use of excessive force,” the filing said.

The family is seeking unspecified damages. That civil case is set for trial in July 2025 in federal court in Indianapolis.

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