INDIANAPOLIS — The Marion County prosecutor dropped the case against former Lawrence Police Officer Jonathan Clark for shooting a suspect in 2020.
The shooting happened in February of that year. By September, a grand jury had indicted Clark for aggravated battery, battery with a deadly weapon and battery resulting in serious bodily injury.
The suspect was part of a chase that started near 56th Street and Post Road, after a theft report on Pendleton Pike.
Clark fired two shots, both hitting the suspect, who was taken to the hospital in critical condition. The suspect survived the shooting.
Clark had been with the Lawrence Police Department for 18 years.
In the motion to dismiss the charges, the prosecutor said the man who was shot stopped communicating with police, so the prosecutor moved to dismiss charges.
In a statement, Clark's attorneys, John Kautzmann and Mason Riley, wrote:
“Obviously we are very pleased that the State has dismissed all charges and our client will not need to endure the cost and stress of a trial. However, we do not think the case should have ever made it to this point. Any police officer in the country presented with the actions of this suspect would have responded in exactly the same way. We were prepared to present a vigorous defense and demonstrate to the jury that officer Clark’s actions were objectively reasonable under the circumstances, and that he acted in full compliance with the requirements of the law.”
13News was told Clark has retired from the department.
(The video at the top of this story is from when Clark was initially indicted in 2020.)