Indianapolis Metro Police Chief Paul Ciesielski today recommended firing one police officer for excessive force during the arrest of a 15-year-old boy on the Eastside last month.
But the chief, announcing the results of a three-week internal affairs investigation, exonerated the actions of two other officers who participated in the arrest and handed out a reprimand to a third officer for her arrest of another juvenile during the incident.
“Let me be clear: The IMPD has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to excessive force,” Ciesielski said during a news conference at the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department training academy on the Far-Eastside.
One allegation that the internal investigation was unable to pin down, despite interviews with 27 witnesses: The claim that some officers called Johnson, who is biracial, a “mutt.”
“We were never able to verify that,” Ciesielski said. Some witnesses recalled hearing it, he said, but could not say who said that word.
Officer Jerry Piland was found to have unnecessarily kneed Brandon Johnson and open-slapped his face while he was on the ground being handcuffed May 16 during a disorderly conduct arrest. After the news conference concluded, the police union’s president said the brass have focused on Piland as a scapegoat and rejected contentions that his use of force was excessive.
Public Safety Director Frank Straub said during the news conference, “I apologize to Mr. Johnson, to his family and to the community for some of the actions taken during this incident. However, a single incident does not define us as a department.”
Straub expressed hope that it would serve as a catalyst for changes that include involving the community in a review of policies and training. Officials plan to set up a community review board that Straub said would be modeled on a similar effort used by the New York Police Department when he was a deputy chief over training earlier in his career.
Ciesielski said Piland, who lives in the same area as Johnsons’ family, off English Avenue near I-465, was off-duty at the time of the Sunday evening incident and responded as other officers arrived. They were sent to the area after a 911 call reported a burglary in progress, and they located Johnson’s brother, Vincent, who police said matched the suspect’s description.
While they were arresting Vincent, Ciesielski said, a crowd of young people formed. Despite orders to go inside a house or leave the area, he said, Brandon Johnson vocally protested his brother’s arrest and approached officers. One officer began to arrest him, and Piland and a third officer later joined in.
Ciesielski said Piland repeatedly hit Johnson with open-palm blows to the face and possibly kneed him. The police chief said Piland’s use of force was appropriate — at least, until the two other officers had subdued Brandon on the ground and were handcuffing him. Piland, however, continued to strike Brandon, which Ciesielski considers over the line.
Johnson suffered a bruised and cut face and his eye was swollen shut after the arrest.
Officer David Carney, the one to initiate Johnson’s arrest, was exonerated by Ciesielski, who said the officer acted within the bounds of appropriate conduct during a struggle with an arrestee. He also cleared Oliver Clouthier, the officer who came in later and helped Carney subdue Johnson. Ciesielski called Clothier’s actions “within policy and exemplary.”
Officer Stacy Lettinga will be given a letter of reprimand for unnecessarily arresting a third juvenile, who Straub said was simply voicing his protest of police actions while standing on his family’s property, within his free-speech rights. Sgt. Josh Shaughnessy, a supervisor, may receive an informal caution, Straub said; he was not directly involved in Johnson’s arrest but at the scene.
Straub said earlier today that Couthier warned Piland “repeatedly” against continued force against Johnson because he and Carney had Johnson under control already. In the past, Clouthier had been suspended six times by the Police Merit Board for actions on and off duty. Former Chief Michael Spears recommended firing him in 2007, but the Merit Board instead suspended him without pay for six months.
“Most of these officers used more restraint than people are giving them credit for,” Straub told The Indianapolis Star.
The Police Merit Board will need to approve Ciesielski’s recommendation for Piland’s termination. Piland has been suspended without pay pending the Merit Board review.
Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi decided not to file juvenile charges against Brandon Johnson or Vincent Johnson. Federal authorities are reviewing the case for possible civil rights violations, and officials said today that images of the incident, recorded by a witness on a cell phone, were being analyzed at an FBI lab in Virginia.
Bill Owensby, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, and attorney John Kautzman attended the news conference and voiced support for Piland. Owensby said the call for his termination was inappropriate; the union may consider filing a lawsuit if the Merit Board upholds the action. Owensby said Piland was being made into a scapegoat.
Ciesielski and Straub failed to specify exactly which actions constituted excessive force, Owensby said, and he noted that officers frequently must react quickly in stressful situations in which suspects struggle.
“Clearly Brandon Johnson was resisting arrest,” Owensby said. “Clearly the officers had to take action.”
The Rev. Richard Willoughby, who is among several ministers, elected officials and other community leaders to call for federal review of the officers’ actions, said today that the group would withhold comment until a news conference planned for Friday morning at Messiah Missionary Baptist Church.
In a statement, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, who is traveling today, said: “The internal investigation spearheaded by Director Straub and Chief Ciesielski balanced the real and legitimate concerns of the Indianapolis community with the need to be fair to the officers involved and thorough in its examination of the facts. Public safety can only be job one if the police act within the letter of the law, the guidelines of their training, and our fellow citizens and public safety officers treat each other with mutual respect. This incident is an indictment of neither the courage and bravery of our police force, nor the spirit of our neighborhoods. I support the conclusions of the internal investigation and the disciplinary recommendations.”
