INDIANAPOLIS — IMPD says several incidents happened downtown over the busy weekend, with many resulting in arrests.
Indianapolis welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors in the last two weeks. During that time, IMPD utilized its Special Event Team (SET) and Event Response Group (ERG) officers.
“We had extra staffing. We had extra plans. We did our homework. We were prepared for the worst and expected the best,” IMPD Deputy Chief of Operations Tanya Terry said.
On Saturday night around 9:30 p.m., police said teens were seen throwing firecrackers at people and horse carriages. One teen allegedly ran away before being taken into custody. During the arrest, the other teen allegedly made threats to the officer.
“That young person made threats to the officer, pretty violent threats, and ended up needing to go to jail as well,” Terry said.
There were also multiple disturbances and fights just south of Monument Circle, where large groups of both adults and teens had gathered. One adult was arrested for battery and disorderly conduct.
During the weekend, units patrolling downtown also arrested multiple people for weapons and narcotics charges.
Just before 11 p.m. Saturday, IMPD officers were also called to a deadly shooting at Washington and Alabama streets, near the Julia M. Carson Transit Center.
Dontae Marcel Clark, 44, was shot and killed. Officers later detained a man as a "person of interest."
This comes two days after a woman was stabbed multiple times at the transit center. A 20-year-old woman was arrested in connection to the case.
Despite these incidents in busy areas, IMPD says violent crime in the downtown district is down 15% compared to this time last year, and property crime is down 3.6%.
“Downtown is safe. Typically, downtown accounts for only 5-6% of our overall crime in our city,” Terry said.
The department says new technology is helping them be more proactive, especially during big events.