INDIANAPOLIS — Two IMPD officers pleaded not guilty Monday morning for their alleged roles in the Dec. 31, 2022, shooting of Anthony Maclin in his grandmother's driveway.
Officers Carl Chandler and Alexander Gregory have been indicted on two counts of aggravated battery, battery with a deadly weapon, battery resulting in serious bodily injury, criminal recklessness and battery resulting in moderate bodily injury.
"We have a prosecutor now, Ryan Mears, who is willing, in cases like Anthony's, to let a grand jury of Marion County citizens decide whether or not there's evidence and whether those officers should face criminal charges in court," said Stephen Wagner, the Maclin family attorney.
Attorneys for the officers said a grand jury hearing isn't the same as a trial.
"There is no defense presented," said John Kautzman, who is representing Chandler and Gregory. "The defense attorney is not allowed to be in there and question people and cross-examine people and call witnesses on behalf of the officers. It's a one-sided prosecutor presentation."
They're now looking toward the trial and presenting the officers' accounts of what happened that morning to the public.
"The only side of the story they're seeing right now is one side, and it's not our side, it's not our client's side," said Edward Merchant, an attorney representing the officers.
"Mr. Maclin and his attorney say he never touched the gun, he never moved his hand, he simply was awakened with a barrage of gunfire," Kautzman said. "I think we need to wait and see if that's what the evidence is produced at trial."
Chandler and Gregory had their initial hearings at the Marion Superior Court at 8:30 a.m. Monday. They were booked into the Marion County Sheriff's Office with bonds set at $3,000 cash.
Maclin's attorney claims the officers' supervisor, Lucas Riley, who was on scene that night and allegedly fired a shot at Maclin, paid their $3,000 cash bail after Monday's hearing.
"What sends a better message than, 'We've got your back, what you did is not wrong,' than the supervisor who should've prevented that is the one that's paying their bond?" Wagner said.
The officers' attorneys said that didn't happen.
"It's absolutely false. Facts matter," Kautzman said. "It's not appreciated when people talk about facts that they have no idea of. The bail was paid by each individual officer."
Both officers were ordered to not have contact with Maclin's family, and they are also not allowed to have firearms or deadly weapons.
Chandler and Gregory's jury trial is tentatively scheduled for Monday, Dec. 18 at 8:30 a.m.
Maclin, grandmother file federal lawsuit
Maclin and his grandmother have filed a federal lawsuit for damages against the officers, IMPD Police Chief Randal Taylor and city of Indianapolis.
The lawsuit lists the following injuries Maclin suffered: gunshot wound to the right chest, a gunshot wound to the right shoulder, two gunshot wounds to the left elbow, a right collapsed lung, liver injury, kidney injury, fracture of a vertebral body with the bullet remaining 1 mm from Anthony’s spine, a contusion to the right upper lobe of his lung, a right diaphragmatic injury requiring surgical repair and a fracture of the humeral medial epicondyle.
According to the lawsuit, Maclin has incurred $929,079.52 in medical bills.
"There was many ways to wake someone up in a car, and that was not one of them," Maclin said during a press conference Monday. "I'm doing a lot better, thanks to God, as this whole process has been nothing but Him."
Through the lawsuit, Maclin and Driver are seeking damages for violating Maclin's rights, punitive damages, attorney fees, damages for personal injuries and severe emotional distress caused to Maclin, damages for emotional distress for Driver, and other relief that is just.
"So many things could have happened to prevent us from being here today. It tears me up every day because I see a young man, which happens to be my grandson, struggle," Driver said. "Every day when he puts on his clothes, he's looking at scars. When he moves his hand, he's feeling the pain. When he shifts back and forth, it's a good possibility that the bullets that are still in there can move. All of this could have been prevented."
The officers' attorneys said Chandler and Alexander shouldn't have to pay anything.
"We will be encouraging the city to vigorously defend this case because we believe the officers acted appropriately and that they should not be paying out any judgment or settlement on this case unless and until a jury decides they were in the wrong," Kautzman said. "I don't think the evidence is going to bear that out."
According to the lawsuit, Maclin and Driver are demanding a jury trial in the matter.
Dec. 31, 2022, incident
Maclin, 24, fell asleep in a car outside of his grandmother's home in the 3600 block of North Oxford Street, near North Keystone Avenue and East 38th Street on the city's near northeast side.
Driver called 911 around 4 a.m., saying a black car was in her driveway, but she didn't want to go out to see who was inside.
"I don't know if it's one of my kids — I don't know," Driver said during the 911 call.
When officers arrived, Maclin was asleep, and they point out he has a gun in his lap. Video shows an officer try to open the doors to the car, but it's locked. According to the critical incident video, officers waited around three minutes before knocking on the passenger side window.
When Maclin woke up and started to move, officers started shooting.
Click here to watch the bodycam video. WARNING: The video is graphic in nature and may be disturbing for some audiences.
Video shows the officers yelling "police!" and "hands up!" over each other. Less than five seconds later, they start firing shots. The shooting lasts for approximately seven seconds.
Maclin's grandmother can then be heard in the background, shouting, "That's my grandson!"
Officers shout at Maclin to get on the ground as his grandmother continues to tell them it's her grandson. After Maclin is out of the car, officers put handcuffs on him, and he can be heard saying, "You gotta get me up...you gotta help me."
In the video, IMPD claims Maclin reached toward the passenger seat before they started shooting. While officers can be heard acknowledging the gun in Maclin's lap when they first arrived, IMPD claims "none of the cameras provided a clear view of the position of the gun after the man woke up and moved his arm."
According to the lawsuit, Maclin never grabbed the gun that was on his lap. The lawsuit also claims officers never told Maclin to "drop the gun," or other words to that effect, failing to attempt to use de-escalation techniques or other methods to verify who Maclin was to his grandmother.
While officers are providing aid, Maclin explains he didn't call his grandmother because he didn't want to wake her up.
IMPD previously identified the officers as four-year veteran Lucas Riley, three-year veteran Gregory and six-year veteran Chandler. 13News would like to point out that Riley was not indicted.
The lawsuit claims Riley fired one shot, while Chandler and Gregory continued firing for seven seconds, emptying their magazines, firing more than 30 shots.
Police said they recovered a 9mm handgun from the front seat. Maclin was never arrested.
According to Maclin's attorneys, the officers fired at least 30 shots, hitting Maclin three times.
Maclin was hospitalized for 18 days and underwent six surgeries.
Maclin's attorneys claim he never had the gun in his hand.
"Anthony is not accused of committing any crime. He was not drunk or high on drugs. While Anthony had a firearm in the car—and a license to carry the firearm—he never reached for the gun," attorney Stephen Wagner said.
Family statement following indictment
The attorney for the family issued a statement Sept. 29 on behalf of Maclin's family after the indictments were announced:
Today a Marion County Grand Jury took the first step in holding IMPD Officers Alexander Gregory and Carl Chandler accountable for their actions on December 31, 2022. On that day these two officers fired more than 30 rounds into Anthony’s car, three of which struck Anthony. The supervising officer, Lucas Riley, fired only one round. This police shooting was senseless. Anthony was not committing a crime, was not accused of committing a crime, had not threatened anyone, had not attempted to harm anyone, and posed no immediate threat to the officers or anyone else. Despite this, Gregory and Chandler fired into the car for seven seconds, unloading their magazines and leaving Anthony’s car riddled with bullet holes. While Anthony had a firearm in the car—and a license to carry the firearm—he never reached for the gun. He never had the gun in his hand, and he certainly did not point the gun at officers. Anthony’s only ‘offense’ was being a young black man in a high crime neighborhood. This ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ approach to policing is illegal and cannot be tolerated, which is why the family is grateful that the criminal process will proceed against Officers Gregory and Chandler.
Although criminal prosecution is one way to hold police officers accountable, there is another obvious way to do so. Anthony and his family again call upon Chief Randal Taylor to suspend Officers Gregory and Chandler without pay and recommend their termination by the Merit Board. Although the Merit Board cannot take final action until after the criminal process plays out, Chief Randal has the authority to recommend termination and suspend the officers without pay for up to six (6) months. He has done that selectively in the past, but never in a case involving deadly force. This unwritten policy sends the wrong message to IMPD officers. Until officers understand that they will lose their job and paycheck if they violate policy when using deadly force, they will continue to do so.