PLAINFIELD, Ind. — A Plainfield family has opened a lawsuit against the Plainfield Police Department alleging their officers rammed into a 17-year-old's vehicle before firing shots at the teen.
According to the lawsuit, on April 11, 2023, a Plainfield mother purchased a 2012 Jeep for her 17-year-old son, who is a student at Avon High School.
The lawsuit says the son's 16-year-old friend moved in with the family prior to the start of the 2023-24 school year so the friend could acquire a better education. The move was done with permission from the 16-year-old's custodial parent.
On Nov. 27, 2023, the 17-year-old and 16-year-old visited a McDonald's in the 2600 block of E. Main Street in Plainfield to see their friend who was working at the restaurant. The 17-year-old was driving the 2012 Jeep while his friend was in the passenger seat.
The lawsuit alleges that when the two teens began to exit the parking lot after visiting their friend, an unmarked police car turned on its lights and initiated a traffic stop near the parking lot's exit.
According to the lawsuit, the 17-year-old teen immediately stopped the Jeep and the two teens both rolled down their windows to hold their hands outside, signifying cooperation to police. The lawsuit states that the 17-year-old did not place the vehicle in park, but did have the brakes applied at the time of the stop.
The lawsuit then claims the officer rammed his unmarked car into the rear of the teens' Jeep before discharging their weapon, claiming it was done to "defend others."
Almost immediately after the first ramming and shots fired, another officer allegedly rammed into the front of the Jeep, claiming a belief that the teens were attempting to flee the scene.
The teens claim they were not attempting to flee the scene and instead had their car catapulted forward from the initial impact.
The initiating officer then lost control of his police car while he was not inside of it, leading the squad car to move forward and crash into a nearby bank. The officer attempted to stop their squad car but was unsuccessful in doing so, the lawsuit alleges.
Police eventually removed the two teens from their car at gunpoint, placed them in handcuffs and transported them to the Plainfield Police Department's holding room.
The lawsuit alleges the mother of the 17-year-old repeatedly asked officers to explain the reason for the teens' arrest, but police refused to disclose information to the mother unless the teens waived their Fifth Amendment rights.
According to the lawsuit, it took at least three hours of the teens being in a holding cell before police told the 17-year-old's mother that they were investigating a reported armed robbery in the area of the McDonald's. The lawsuit notes that the boys were unarmed during the entire incident.
Police allegedly confiscated the teens' cell phones which have not been returned as of the filing of the lawsuit. The teens were eventually released six hours after being detained without any further explanation behind police's reasoning.
Further details in the lawsuit show that the Hendricks County Communications Center received a 911 call from an unnamed 16-year-old, claiming that the two teens had attempted to rob them at gunpoint near the McDonald's.
The caller allegedly gave the dispatcher a fake name. Police investigated the call and found that the call came in from a home address roughly a half-mile southwest of the restaurant. Police concluded that no robbery was attempted and that the caller had fabricated the entire report.
The lawsuit alleges police knew about the false report no longer than an hour after the teens were initially detained, meaning police kept the teens detained despite evidence that there was no crime committed by the two.
The family of the teens allege that the Jeep was a "total loss" and could not be repaired due to the damage caused by police. The lawsuit also claims the teens suffered extreme emotional stress as a result of their police encounter.