INDIANAPOLIS — Thirty-nine-year-old Herman Whitfield III died in April during a struggle with IMPD officers at his home. Whitfield's parents called the police for mental health assistance in the early morning hours of April 25.
Over the summer, IMPD released an edited version of the officers' bodycam footage that night.
Monday, Whitfield's family and lawyers asked a federal judge to release those bodycam videos in their entirety. The judge ruled Monday the city has until Nov. 28 to either hand over the video or file a stay. If the city files a stay and a judge denies it, they will have three days to respond to the request.
"They have it, we don't. We have to get it," said the Whitfield family attorney Richard Waples.
"They're asking for more time, but my son only had 9 1/2 minutes, so I think they've had a lot more time than my son, Herman Whitfield III had," said Whitfield's father, Herman Whitfield Jr.
The attorney defending the city and officers involved, said in federal court Monday, IMPD received a grand jury subpoena where criminal charges against the officers would be considered.
They argued those officers need protection while the case is under review and the full video should be withheld for the time being.
"Our position was, that cat's already out of the bag. If they release their own version of the videos, they can't keep the unedited version of the videos away from the public," said Waples. "The public has a right, has an interest in what their officer employees did in their name."
"To me, it almost seems like a conspiracy between certain individuals to obscure the truth," said Herman Whitfield III's mother, Gladys Whitfield. "If it's OK to put out this video that's been altered, edited and muted and narrated and presenting evidence in a false manner, and that's not prejudicial, then why would the truth be prejudicial?"
Waples believes the department is keeping this video from the public to downplay what the officers did that night.
"It's rare that they would do that," said Waples. "Perhaps they have something to hide, I don't know."
13News asked the city's attorney for a statement, but he declined to comment.