Grand Jury Clears Two IMPD Officers Involved In Fatal Shooting Of Mack Long

POLICE VIDEO STILL NOT RELEASED
Marion Co. Prosecutor Terry Curry's office announced today that a grand jury reviewing evidence received in the shooting death of Mack Long last April by two IMPD officers decided they should not face criminal charges. A vehicle in which Long was a passenger was stopped for a minor traffic offense. Police said Long fled on foot when the police officer asked the driver of the car to provide her license and vehicle registration. The officer reportedly pursued Long, who said he observed Long carrying a firearm at his hip. That officer fired one shot into Long after he caught up with him and he refused to comply with his order to drop to the ground. Long continued to flee after being shot once. The officer says he began wrestling with Long after catching up to him again, at which point a second police officer who arrived on the scene fired two more shots into Long, killing him.

An IMPD spokesman initially claimed that Long had fired at one of the police officers, who allegedly was injured when a bullet grazed him. Police later retracted that statement, agreeing that Long had fired no shots during the altercation. One of the police officers involved in the shooting was wearing a body camera. In addition, a nearby witness recorded the shooting on a cell phone. The police and prosecutor's office both refused to release the video to the public. Curry insisted Indiana law did not permit him to release the video because of an ongoing grand jury investigation. That's an inaccurate statement of Indiana law, which actually gives law enforcement the discretion of withholding the video as an investigative record. The law does not expressly prohibit the video's release. So why not release the video now? You can review the press release issued by the prosecutor's office here. There isn't much there to read.