INDIANAPOLIS — The family of a man killed in a suspected drunk driving crash is angry and frustrated after two IMPD officers served short suspensions for what they didn't do at the crash scene.
Rashid Conteh, 22, was killed in the crash Sept. 29 just after midnight at 24th and Delaware streets.
Conteh was riding in the back seat of a gray 2020 Honda Accord with his older brother, Nelson, and Nelson’s friend. The three were taking a Lyft ride home after attending a concert in downtown Indianapolis.
"I always wanted to make sure he was safe, and I thought the safest place he could be was right beside me, and it breaks my heart that he died right beside me,” Nelson said.
The driver of the other car, Connor Gaskill, of Pendleton, is charged with reckless homicide, causing death when operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and six other felony charges.
Investigators said that data from Gaskill's white 2019 Honda Accord showed that he ran a stop sign going west on 24th Street and was going 55 miles an hour — in a 30 mph zone — when he T-boned the Lyft car, which was going north on Delaware Street.
But the officers responding to the crash didn't give Gaskill a breath test or send him to the hospital for a blood draw.
IMPD suspended Ofc. Andrew Gossett two days and Ofc. Dwayne Mills one day because they did not properly conduct a crash investigation involving a fatality.
Both officers served the suspensions in April.
Nelson took the case before the Citizen's Police Complaint Board on June 12.
The board agreed that the officers violated department policy but recommended no further discipline.
"My anger is very high but really frustration with police who really are not wanting to hold people accountable,” Nelson said.
Witnesses told a grand jury that Gaskill had been drinking that night. Gaskill told the officers at the scene he did not remember how the crash happened.
"The police officers made it very difficult,” Nelson said. “They could have made it a lot easier if they would have just tested him that night, but they didn't. So, we're hopeful, but we also realize that it's complicated. The police officers made it more complicated because they did not decide to test him that night."
Gaskill is free on bail with limited driving privileges. His next court date is July 17.
The Conteh family has also filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against Gaskill and Pins Mechanical Company, the bar where he was allegedly drinking that night.