INDIANAPOLIS — A battle of badges.
That’s what video of a heated confrontation between an off-duty IMPD police officer and a local constable seems to show when it appeared on YouTube this week.
It all centered around an eviction on the Indianapolis' east side, leading to a profanity-laced tirade from the constable, who says she was trying to help a single mom who she claims was being unfairly evicted this week.
Shante Collins, 38, said she was the target of a rental scam that ultimately led to a judge ordering her to be evicted from the home she’s lived in with her four kids since November.
The four-and-a-half minute video shows a man in an IMPD uniform telling a woman, who is also in a uniform and has a badge, to stand back. That woman is Constable Denise Paul Hatch, who yells at the officer, “I am the constable! I am the constable of this township!”
Hatch said she was angry because, she claims, the officer pushed her, causing her to stumble backward on the steps of the home. If that was the case, it’s not a part of the video posted on YouTube.
What follows for several minutes is Hatch, sometimes swearing, telling the officer that Collins, who lives at the house seen in the video on Grant Avenue, has court documents showing a judge has not yet ruled on a request by Collins to halt the eviction.
Collins told 13News she thought she had been renting the Grant Avenue home since November, providing a copy of the lease that shows her signature and that of a woman, identified as the landlord. Collins also sent screen shots of what she says are payments to the landlord via Cash App.
“I found her on Facebook, looking for private landlords. Everything was done online,” Collins explained, saying she was shocked when she came home two weeks ago and found the contents of her home were gone.
“All my stuff was gone, like everything,” she said.
When Collins learned she’d been evicted and her stuff had been hauled away by a moving company, she called the constable's office to ask why. That’s when she says she found out the name of the person listed on the eviction order was the same woman she had been paying her rent to, who Collins says had not been paying rent to the home’s actual owner.
“I’ve never been scammed out of anything, until now,” said Collins.
Collins said she was hoping a judge would understand that’s what she believed happened when she filed a motion with the help of a legal aid this week, asking for more time to find a new place to live.
Instead, a moving company showed up Thursday, along with an off-duty police officer who Collins says threatened to arrest her if she didn’t leave.
“He came to my house and was like, ‘I’m here to serve the eviction' and I was like, ‘Can I go get my phone?’” Collins says she asked the officer.
“He said, ‘If you step across that threshold, I’m going to arrest you,’” Collins added.
“I was like, ‘I just need to get my baby’s Pampers, her diaper bag, my purse,’” she said she told the officer.
Collins called Hatch, who showed up to see what was going on.
“She gave me her paperwork, showed it to me and I was like, ‘Oh, OK, it’s stamped today’ so I showed it. I said, ‘Look at the paperwork. She has a stay. You have to leave,’” Hatch said she told the officer.
That’s not what happened.
What followed were several minutes of the two arguing, with Hatch yelling at the officer, “You’re not going to put this girl out! You have no authority!”
Explaining it a day later, Hatch told 13News, “I’m about my business, but I’m not about the business of putting young mothers out when they paid their rent. It’s wrong, and I won’t do it.”
“Was there a way to take the temperature down?” 13News asked.
“They could have left,” said Hatch. “I’m going to stay hot until you get out of here. This is my citizen. It’s my responsibility."
Shante Collins now feels the weight of responsibility too.
“I have four kids, so everything is on me, so I’m trying,” said Collins, choking up, overwhelmed at the thought of finding a new home for herself and her kids after a judge ruled later that same day she could not stay at the home on Grant Avenue any longer.
IMPD said they’re still investigating what happened between Hatch and one of their officers.
IMPD released this statement:
“IMPD is aware of an incident that occurred on May 9, 2023 involving Center Township Constable Denise Paul Hatch. An IMPD officer was working in an off-duty capacity escorting a moving company to remove property from a home in the 700 block of North Grant Avenue. Shortly after, Constable Hatch arrived and there was a confrontation between her and an IMPD officer. IMPD’s supervisors responded to the scene and special investigation unit detectives are investigating at this time. The incident was captured on officer worn-body camera and IMPD is aware that videos of portions of the incident have been shared on social media. IMPD Chief Randal Taylor has spoken to Center Township Judge Brenda Roper to discuss the incident and steps moving forward.”
Hatch says she’s working with the Center Township Trustee to find Collins and her kids a new place to live.
