Special prosecutor to be appointed to examine police shooting in Broad Ripple
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A Marion County judge has agreed to secure a special prosecutor to decide whether criminal charges are warranted after Saturday’s police shooting in the Broad Ripple neighborhood.
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears requested a special prosecutor on Tuesday, and a judge granted the request the same day, court documents show. A prosecutor’s office spokesman said Thursday that he did not believe a special prosecutor has been appointed yet.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is leading the shooting investigation.
William Manery, 30, was wanted on a warrant from Tennessee. He rammed police cars before being shot by a Marion County sheriff’s reserve division member on Saturday in Broad Ripple, according a timeline released Sunday by IMPD.
Mears cited the prosecutor’s office’s “close working relationship” with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office as well as the desire “to avoid an appearance of impropriety” as reasons to seek a special prosecutor.
On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office identified reserve Lt. Jason Lee as the officer who fired a gun. He is an unpaid, trained volunteer that donates hundreds of hours to the sheriff’s office each year. He was put on administrative leave during the investigation of the shooting.
The shooting happened around 5:30 p.m. Saturday outside an apartment building in the 6300 block of Westfield Boulevard in Broad Ripple near the White River. The IMPD timeline said the sheriff’s office got word Saturday that Manery was at that location, had open warrants from out of state, and was possibly armed and dangerous.
Deputies found Manery asleep in a Jeep Cherokee parked at the address. They told him to get out of the SUV. That’s when he reversed into a marked police car behind him and continued for at about 50 feet, hitting a curb. Then he drove forward, hitting an unmarked sheriff’s office vehicle, according to the timeline.
As deputies ran toward the vehicle, Lee fired his weapon, striking Manery multiple times. Deputies took the man out of the SUV and rendered first aid until emergency medical personnel arrived, the timeline said.
Manery was taken to St. Vincent Hospital in serious but stable condition and on Sunday was in good condition and expected to survive his injuries, the timeline said.
Investigators did not find a gun at the scene or inside the SUV, the timeline said.
Sheriff’s office deputies are not fitted with body-worn cameras. Officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department who responded to the scene were wearing body-worn cameras that were activated as they arrived, the timeline said.
