Lawyers in police killing slam inquiry

INDIANAPOLIS — Attorneys for the family of a 21-yearold Black man who was shot and killed in May by an Indianapolis police officer blasted the investigation Saturday, saying a more thorough one could have led the grand jury to return a criminal indictment against the officer.

The lawyers for Dreasjon Reed’s family maintain that at least 10 eyewitnesses saw officer Dejoure Mercer shoot Reed with his stun gun and then repeatedly with his firearm while Reed lay writhing on the ground. Contrary to findings of a State Police investigation, those witnesses maintain that Reed didn’t fire on the officer, the lawyers said.

“Their testimony was consistent — Dreasjon was tased, he fell, he was shot while still shaking on the ground. He did not shoot back,” attorney Fatima Johnson said during an online news conference Saturday. She said she was “beyond disgusted” that Mercer won’t face charges — at one point repeating the word “again” 13 times to represent how many times Mercer fired at Reed.

Reed’s May 6 shooting was not recorded on video because the Police Department only began implementing a body-camera program in August. But Reed livestreamed an earlier car chase and part of a foot chase on Facebook.

Special prosecutor Rosemary Khoury, who was appointed in June to oversee the investigation into the shooting, announced Tuesday that the grand jury had declined to indict Mercer, who is also Black. She said the grand jurors found there was insufficient evidence to indict or accuse Mercer of a crime but that she couldn’t discuss what evidence was presented because grand jury proceedings are secret.

Indiana State Police spokesman Capt. Ron Galaviz defended the agency’s investigation.

“While we can’t imagine what this family is enduring, we stand by our objective conclusions,” Galaviz said.