Indianapolis police officers are acquitted in the 2022 death of a man at his parents’ home

[December 07, 2024]  INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two Indianapolis police officers were acquitted of manslaughter and other charges Friday in the death of a man after officers shocked him with a Taser and restrained him face down while handcuffing him.

Jurors began deliberating Friday morning and took less than three hours to come up with a verdict following five days of testimony in the trial over the 2022 death of Herman Whitfield III, local news outlets reported.

Officers Adam Ahmad and Steven Sanchez were tried together. The jury acquitted them on all charges: 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.

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement after the verdicts were handed down that he was “heartbroken” for Whitfield's family.

John Kautzman, one of the officers’ attorneys, told The Associated Press that the defense team was “very, very pleased with the outcome of the case" and police officers shouldn't go to prison for doing their jobs.

“We felt that they acted appropriately under very difficult circumstances and we're really happy they were exonerated,” Kautzman said.

The Whitfield family’s attorney, Richard Waples, didn’t immediately respond to a voicemail seeking comment.

Ahmad, 32, and Sanchez, 35, were indicted by a grand jury in April 2023 after Whitfield’s family spent nearly a year demanding that authorities release full body camera videos of his encounter with police and called for the firing of up to six officers.

The videos, which were released in January 2023, document Whitfield’s chaotic final moments.

Both officers have remained on administrative duty with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department during the case. Chief Chris Bailey posted on X that both officers will resume their normal duties after completing refresher training.

Bailey also extended his sympathies to Whitfield's family and commended, Ahmad, Sanchez and other officers and detectives who testified during the trial for their “professionalism and resilience.”

“Cases like this are deeply difficult, and there are no true winners,” Bailey wrote.

Whitfield’s parents, Herman Whitfield Jr. and Gladys Whitfield, 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.

Whitfield was pronounced dead at a hospital after Sanchez shocked him with a Taser and he and Ahmad held Whitfield face down on the floor of his parents’ dining room as he was being handcuffed.

The Marion County Coroner’s Office ruled Whitfield’s death a homicide, caused by heart failure as he was being restrained and shocked.

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.

Daniel Cicchini, the chief trial deputy for the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, said in his opening statement on Dec. 2 that the two officers acted “recklessly” by restraining Whitfield face down longer than necessary.

“Essentially, his heart and lungs could no longer function properly,” Cicchini told the jury. “When they kept him in that position, they did so recklessly.”

He said the officers’ actions left Whitfield “unable to breathe.”

“In April 2022, Herman Jr. and Gladys Whitfield reached out for help, hoping that the police would protect their son in a moment of desperate need and the result of what ensued was a tragedy,” Mears, the prosecutor, said in his statement Friday.

Ahmad and Sanchez’s attorneys argued that the officers did nothing illegal.

One of their attorneys, Mason Riley, said during his opening statement that Whitfield suffered from an enlarged heart. He said Whitfield, who weighed 389 pounds (176 kilograms) according to his autopsy, died “before the handcuffing concluded.”

“Neither of them have committed a single criminal act,” Riley said of the co-defendants.

He also said neither officer, nor other officers who responded to the family’s home, heard Whitfield say that he couldn't breathe.

The officers’ attorneys 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 that Sanchez had faced, but it allowed the remaining charges against the officers to proceed to trial.

A lawsuit filed by Whitfield’s family against the city of Indianapolis and six police officers, including Ahmad, Sanchez and Clark, 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 lawsuit contends.

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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