INDIANAPOLIS (AP) 鈥� Two Indianapolis police officers were acquitted of manslaughter and other charges Friday in the after officers shocked him with a Taser and restrained him face down while handcuffing him.
The jurors' verdict followed a five-day for Officers Adam Ahmad and Steven Sanchez in the 2022 death of Herman Whitfield III.
The officers 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.
Ahmad, 32, and Sanchez, 35, were after Whitfield鈥檚 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鈥檚 chaotic final moments.
Both officers have remained on administrative duty with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
Whitfield鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥� dining room as he was being handcuffed.
The Marion County Coroner鈥檚 Office ruled Whitfield鈥檚 death a homicide, caused by heart failure as he was being restrained and shocked.
According to the report, Whitfield weighed 389 pounds (176 kilograms). The coroner鈥檚 office listed 鈥渕orbid obesity鈥� and 鈥渉ypertensive cardiovascular disease鈥� as contributing factors in his death.
Daniel Cicchini, the chief trial deputy for the Marion County Prosecutor鈥檚 Office, that the two officers acted 鈥渞ecklessly鈥� by restraining Whitfield face down longer than necessary.
鈥淓ssentially, his heart and lungs could no longer function properly,鈥� Cicchini told the jury. 鈥淲hen they kept him in that position, they did so recklessly.鈥�
He said the officers鈥� actions left Whitfield 鈥渦nable to breathe.鈥�
Ahmad and Sanchez鈥檚 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 鈥渂efore the handcuffing concluded.鈥�
鈥淣either of them have committed a single criminal act,鈥� Riley said of the co-defendants.
He also said neither officer, nor other officers who responded to the family鈥檚 home, heard Whitfield say that he couldn't breathe.
The officers鈥� attorneys had sought to have the charges dismissed against both men, arguing in part that the grand jury proceedings were 鈥渄efective鈥� and that 鈥渢he facts stated do not constitute an offense.鈥�
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鈥檚 family against the city of Indianapolis and six police officers, including Ahmad, Sanchez and Clark, states that Whitfield 鈥渄ied because of the force used against him鈥� and calls the force used against him 鈥渦nreasonable and excessive.鈥�
鈥淢r. Whitfield needed professional mental health care, not the use of excessive force,鈥� the lawsuit contends.
The family is seeking unspecified damages. That civil case is set for trial in July 2025 in federal court in Indianapolis.
The Associated Press
