IMPD officer charged with battery

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - An IMPD officer has been arrested on charges of battery and intimidation after investigators said he attacked a driver last month.

According to court documents, a man reported that a man who claimed to be a police officer had hit him in the face on May 5 as he sat in an SUV in an alley near Holmes Avenue and Addison Street, on the southwest side of Indianapolis.

Martin Bernardino told police he was in the area looking for someone when he was approached by first one man, then another. The probable cause affidavit says the second man identified himself as a police officer, though he was not in uniform, Bernardino told police, and demanded to see the driver’s license. Bernardino told police that when he did not comply and asked what he had done wrong, the man claiming to be an officer hit him in the face and told him to leave the area, which Bernardino did.

He and his passenger went to a nearby home, where a family member called 911. A police report was taken, and the man was taken via ambulance to Wishard Memorial Hospital for treatment of a broken nose.

A family member made further inquiries, and was told a police officer by the name of Tom lived in the area. The victim then made a complaint to the Citizens Complaint Office, and was referred to the Special Investigations Unit. Investigators there were engaged in the case May 8.

Upon further investigation, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers determined Officer Thomas Bordenkecher lived nearby where the incident allegedly occurred. When shown several photos, the victim picked Bordenkecher’s out as his attacker, according to court documents.

He was arrested Thursday and was released on his own recognizance.

When asked what he thought about the arrest Friday, Bernardino said he was "a little nervous."

Bordenkecher has been with IMPD since April 1991 and is currently on administrative leave pending the outcome of the legal proceedings, IMPD said.