INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — A longtime Indiana University law professor is speaking out, saying an IMPD officer violated his civil rights.
Kevin Brown is telling his story after video surfaced of veteran IMPD Officer Emily Perkins using pepper spray on people inside a nightclub.
Internal Affairs at IMPD is already looking into the officer's action and now Brown and his wife are talking about their encounter with her, too.
"I switched from one lane to the other to let her pass, because she came up behind me," Kevin Brown said.
Brown and his wife Dianne shared details about an October 2017 traffic stop that landed Brown in jail. They're talking after seeing the video of Perkins, his arresting officer. The video aired on Eyewitness News last week.
The traffic stop happened as the Browns drove home at the I-70/I-65 split. The widely revered professor had just finished a speaking engagement in Indianapolis before heading home to Bloomington in moderate to heavy traffic. When he realized that the police car was actually pulling over, he and his wife in her red vehicle he looked for a safe place to stop. Brown exited the interstate out of harm's way, which he believes irritated Perkins.
"She came out, her gun was drawn, she was yelling at me, 'Why didn't you stop? Why didn't you stop? Why didn't you stop?" Brown said.
Brown is a Yale Law School graduate and has worked as a professor at Indiana University for about 30 years. He insists Perkins mistreated them as he tried to calm things down. His wife even shared that after recognizing how irritated the officer appeared even she tried to use the de-escalation methods she learned working as a flight attendant for many years.
"I gave her my license, I gave my insurance and I gave her my bar card. I wanted her to know that I was an attorney and a law professor and I am not a threat," said Kevin Brown.
Brown shared how Perkins ordered them out of the car and handcuffed him first. Brown had already asked his wife to take out her cell phone to take photos and record video, just in case things went south. After being placed in handcuffs, Brown explained how Perkins then went to the passenger side of the car and ordered his wife out of the passenger seat before reportedly taking her cell phone from her hands.
"She swings me around, yanks this arm, slaps the cuff on me, all on my bones, and then she said 'I am handcuffing you because you are a person in the car that would not pull over," said Dianne Brown.
The couple then shared how an IMPD sergeant responded to the scene and eventually ordered their handcuffs removed. The sergeant reportedly explained that Brown would receive a couple of traffic tickets and then be able to go home. But Perkins reportedly insisted that a lieutenant who arrived on the scene override the sergeant and allow her to arrest Brown. The professor then claims he was handcuffed again and driven off the shoulder of the interstate to a jail wagon on the street off the exit.
A Marion County Sheriff's deputy transported the law professor to the Arrestee Processing Center. A magistrate eventually released Brown on his own recognizance. Several months later, the professor agreed to a guilty plea for failure to signal. Now after seeing the same officer in trouble again, Brown and his wife are really concerned.
"I knew something like this would happen. So now is the perfect time to make our story and we filed with (Marion County Prosecutor Terry) Curry when we filed a civil rights claim," Kevin Brown said.
"You can't go around treating people like this," his wife added.
During the internal investigation by IMPD, Perkins will remain on administrative duties. No word yet on what impact this new case will have on her work status.
Eyewitness News reached out to Metro Police Chief Bryan Roach for comment about this new case involving Perkins. A police spokesperson informed us by email that the chief was away from his office and not available to respond. It is standard for police not to comment during ongoing litigations.