INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis police fired pepper balls Saturday to disperse a crowd as they arrested a man during a protest near the location where an officer fatally shot a 21-year-old black man days earlier.
About 50 people converged near the site where Dreasjon “Sean" Reed was fatally shot on Wednesday, The Indianapolis Star reported. Reed's killing during a foot chase with an officer, and the fatal police shooting hours later of another black man, have strained relations between the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and black residents, spurring a series of demonstrations.
As police were arresting a man during Saturday's protest, officers fired pepper balls “to deter a crowd as they closed in on officers creating an unsafe environment for officers and protesters,” police spokesman Michael Hewitt said in a statement.
Hewitt said officers arrested a 41-year-old man on suspicion of obstruction of traffic and disorderly conduct.
“No officers or protesters were injured during this arrest. IMPD supports our citizens rights to peaceful and lawful protest," Hewitt added.
Reed's shooting death was followed by protests both Wednesday and Thursday. It came within hours of Indianapolis police fatally shooting 19-year-old McHale Rose, and an officer fatally striking a pregnant woman with his car. The woman was white.
It's unclear what discipline, if any, that officer might face. Police said preliminary findings don't indicate driver impairment was a factor in the incident.
Police have said both Reed and Rose exchanged gunfire with officers before they were fatally shot.
Local activist groups have demanded transparency and accountability as the shootings are investigated.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said Friday that he asked the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI to “actively monitor” the investigations into the shootings. Also, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said he was asking a court to appoint an independent prosecutor to handle the investigation into Reed's shooting because Indianapolis police Chief Randal Taylor is a witness in the case.
Reed's killing during a foot chase with an officer
After a 90 mph romp through downtown, and firing on police - sometimes background is important, lol.
“I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it. My affections, being concentrated over a few people, are not spread all over Hell in a vile attempt to placate sulky, worthless shits.” - William S Burroughs
for the umpteenth time, chris rock explains it yet again
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
“I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it. My affections, being concentrated over a few people, are not spread all over Hell in a vile attempt to placate sulky, worthless shits.” - William S Burroughs
A few years ago a guy I used to work with was made the Dean of Engineering at a college in Indianapolis. He sent me a form letter asking for a donation to the school. In the letter he described Indianapolis as a "vibrant community".
Indianapolis is different from most (all?) large US cities in that there was never a defacto level of segregation. There is no "black" part of town, although there are parts of town that anyone who is not black will avoid like the plague, but most neighborhoods are mixed. This has had both negative and positive consequences, the negative being that it dumbs down the marginal white kids that may have been productive citizens given a nurturing environment, these are the ones lost to drugs for the most part. The positive, if you can call it that, is that the rest of the whites (and Mexicans, nowadays), see the utter bullshit of the "Diversity is our Strength" nonsense and are resolute in our attempts to maintain some semblance of civilization.
“I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it. My affections, being concentrated over a few people, are not spread all over Hell in a vile attempt to placate sulky, worthless shits.” - William S Burroughs