Mayor says FBI cleared 2 officers in chaotic arrest after seat-belt stop, returns them to duty
Two police officers in Hammond, Indiana, who were involved in a chaotic arrest after stopping a car because the driver and a front-seat passenger weren’t wearing seat belts, have been returned to duty.
The family, who are black, allege in a federal civil rights suit that the officers, who are white, used excessive force in breaking a window and applying an electronic stun gun on a passenger who did not leave the car when the officers asked him to. A 7-year-old and a 14-year-old were in the backseat; the 14-year-old captured part of the encounter in a cellphone video.
Although stating it was appropriate to return the officers to duty because they had been cleared by an FBI investigation, Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. also said he would continue to discuss with the community how police practices could be improved, the Chicago Tribune reports.
“Several issues have been brought to my attention that I am committed to continued discussion and finding solutions,” the mayor said in a written statement. “Most importantly, this includes a review of the testing and hiring practices of the Hammond Police Department to ensure a more diversified workforce that better reflects our diverse city. Ideas such as a police advisory commission and additional sensitivity training are also being reviewed.”
Attorney Dana Kurtz represents the driver, Lisa Mahone, in the September traffic stop. Kurtz said it is not up to the FBI to determine whether civil rights violations occurred and stated what McDermott “needs to be doing is taking a stand against excessive force, which seems to be a pattern among his police officers,” the Northwest Indiana Times reports.
As agreed by both sides, the civil rights suit has been put on hold while the passenger in the vehicle, Jamal Jones, deals with a pending criminal case. He was charged with resisting arrest and failure to assist a police officer at the conclusion of the September seat-belt stop.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Police stop over unbuckled seat belts leads to chaotic arrest and federal civil rights suit”
