Interfaith leaders demand more transparency in Whitfield case

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Religion in Indiana, a gaggle of interfaith pastors is demanding the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Division launched unedited footage displaying Herman Whitfield III as he was tased in an incident April twenty fifth.

“Our name and our demand, is that the uncooked footage be launched to the group,” mentioned Senior Pastor at Bethel AME Church Dr. Carlos Perkins.

Whitfield died shortly after the encounter with IMPD officers. On June twenty eighth, IMPD launched footage of the incident, however it was edited and contained subtitles.

Whitfield household responds to IMPD physique digicam footage
Religion in Indiana desires the officers concerned within the incident fired and the post-mortem outcomes on Whitfield’s dying launched to the general public.

Whitfield’s father known as police and requested an ambulance after he mentioned his son was having a psychosis.

“I need to say, he was unnecessarily tased,” Whitfield II mentioned. “I used to be all the time standing, two or three ft away from him. He was unnecessarily tased he wasn’t doing something in any respect threatening the officers.”

The interfaith leaders are additionally working with the town on staffing up the Cellular Disaster Help Workforce, which responds to folks experiencing a behavioral disaster. Dr. Perkins believes the unit may have saved Whitfield.

“The workforce that’s in place now with MCAT, they work till 5 or 6:00 O’clock, they usually aren’t obtainable 24-7. We’ve got a lot of incidents that occur in a single day,” Dr. Perkins mentioned.

Household of Indianapolis man who died in police custody sues metropolis, IMPD officers

IMPD Chief Randall Taylor mentioned final week that an inner investigation into the incident is underway and the six officers concerned are on administrative depart.

Whitfield’s household has filed a federal lawsuit towards the town and IMPD.