Monday, April 21, 2014

Curry Turns Table On His IMPD Accusers

The leadership of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department quickly jumped to point the fingers at the office of Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry after someone leaked an internal affairs memorandum detailing the department's long-held knowledge of domestic violence allegations involving one of their own shortly after Sgt. Ryan Anders shot and killed his ex-wife, Officer Kim Carmack, before turning the gun on himself and taking his life. IMPD officials told reporters that top brass had asked Curry's office to file criminal charges against Anders, which would have included felony stalking and criminal confinement charges, but delays in bringing those charges resulted in the tragic murder-suicide last Friday.

Today, Curry met with various media outlets to defend his office's handling of the case. Curry told reporters that, while his office knew of the protective order Officer Carmack had obtained against Sgt. Anders. and the seriousness of her allegations, his office had been assured by police that she had been placed in a safe house for her own protection, a GPS device was being used by police to track Anders whereabouts, and that there was no indication given to his office of any violations of the protective order against Anders. "We approached this like any other case which is requesting investigators to go back and obtain certain information, and that process continued essentially for a couple of weeks. As of last Thursday, most of the information had been gathered, but there were still some loose ends still out there," Curry said.

Curry claims that his office had obtained most of the evidence it needed to file charges against Anders, including his cell phone records. At the time of the shooting, he said that his office was trying to determine if Anders was using a "find a phone" app that would allow him to track his ex-wife's whereabouts. The protective order that Carmack obtained against Anders was actually obtained on March 29th with the assistance of Curry's office. Nobody seems to know why Carmack had left the safe house provided for her safety and returned to the home that she had previously shared with Anders.

The Indianapolis Star has requested the personnel files of both Anders and Carmack to learn what prior disciplinary actions, if any, had been taken against the two officers. IMPD denied the request for the time being, saying that it would provide them at the "appropriate time." IMPD also refused to provide information about the specific type of surveillance it had utilized in the case, indicating that revealing it could compromise future investigations using the same technology. The Star previously revealed that IMPD, along with the Indiana State Police, had acquired Stingray software that allows the police agency to surreptitiously gather cell phone data in bulk within a certain geographic area.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought Curry's rationalization for not doing anything was very weak and lame. If there was probable cause and a reasonable belief that there was a person in jeopardy, then they should have filed the charge and gotten additional evidence afterward.

By the way, while a "find a phone" app may be relevant evidence of stalking, that is not an element of the crime itself.

Bottom line, I'm not buying into Terry Curry's rationalization. It looks like deliberate indifference to me.

Anonymous said...

So Ballard thinks that he has a right to hide more facts from us? "IMPD denied the request for the time being, saying that it would provide them at the "appropriate time."

I didn't know that the public records request had a "Ballard" exception...but then, gathering from the usual denial of public records with the improper statement that they "are vague", does anyone expect less?

Where are the Regional Operations Center Records?

Ballard is stone-walling and NOT transparent! Is there a crime being covered up?

People in Indianapolis want answers!

Flogger said...

Could this just be SOP in a "domestic issue", i.e., lack of interest or a low priority to this type of situation?

Louis Mahern said...

Where are the Develop Indy records of private contributors to Ballard's overseas junkets, the agendas of those junkets and what concerts, performances, museums and athletic events he and the Missus attended while on those junkets? Who are the private citizens who accompany the Mayor on this luxury trips? How much was expended on the Mayor and Ms. Ballard's travel, accommodations, food and beverages. Develop Indy refuses to divulge any such information despite the fact that their tax returns reveal the Mayor of Indianapolis appoints all of the Board of Directors of develop Indy and he is the sole shareholder of Develop Indy.

Anonymous said...

Whose the mole that let the husband know of details...Ponder that.

Behind The Blue Wall said...

Excellent contributions. Smart. I've been collecting everything I can find on Officer Carmack and how this was handled.
See http://www.lanejudson.com
He's the father of our police chief's wife who was killed in the chief's murder suicide.
Keep startling them with truth!