INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — A video of an arrest viewed on social media more than a million times has cost a central Indiana reserve police officer his badge.
The video shows off-duty reserve officer James Reynolds confronting a man who refused to identify himself at the Creekside at Meridian Hills apartment complex. Reynolds was a reserve officer with the Sheridan Police Department.
On the side, he started a security company, Reynolds Security Consulting Corporation out of Hendricks County.
He tried to identify a man on the property who didn't cooperate, saying he did nothing wrong. Their encounter eventually escalated into the man's arrest.
In the video, you can hear Reynolds ask Jaquon Dean to identify himself. You can also hear Dean refuse to identify himself saying he was a resident of the complex. Reynolds would later learned that he stays and visits a girlfriend who resides at Creekside.
After going back and forth, Reynolds called for back-up from Southport officers working part time for Reynolds Security Consulting Corporation.
Southport Police Sgt. Robert Patterson works part-time for Reynolds to pick up extra income.
Reynolds does not have arrest powers in Marion County and runs his security company out of Plainfield.
Dean, 21, also asked for identification from Southport officers who arrived at the complex and explained that his refusal to ID himself was a crime.
The video shows Patterson pulling out his ID card and badge and showing it to Dean.
"There it is, Sgt. Robert Patterson, Southport Police Department," said Patterson.
The Southport officer identified himself before arresting Dean and pulling him from the driver seat of his car that he was working on in the parking lot of Creekside.
The officers had already been on the lookout for a burglary suspect in the area with a similar description who had stolen a television from a nearby home, according to Southport Police Chief Thomas Vaughn.
Dean dropped his cell phone as the Southport Officer handcuffed him but it was continued to record.
The video shows Reynolds looking at Dean's phone on the ground before stepping on it. The video has now been viewed more than a million times and Southport Police has gotten some ugly comments on social media about the incident.
"It's on social media and outlets and all that. Just to make it clear, the original officer on this does not and has not ever worked for the Southport Police Department," said Chief Vaughn.
Dean's charges include resisting law enforcement and refusal to identify. In Indiana, refusing to identify yourself is a class C Misdemeanor.
Officers also arrested Dean's girlfriend who resides in Creekside. According to police, she was arrested for refusing to identify, resisting and battery on a public safety official for reportedly kicking an officer.
Police Chief Vaughn will now order his officers who work part-time off-duty to wear more "police like" clothing to better help identify themselves to citizens. Reynolds had on khaki shorts and a vest that read police.
The same vest can be purchased online by anyone without verification they are a real law enforcement officer.
Reynolds once worked for the Marion County Sheriff's Department.
Public record personnel files show that he resigned from that agency several years ago.
Sources tell Eyewitness News Reynolds has contracts with several apartment complexes in central Indiana where he employs full time police officers to work off duty patrols.
Southport Police is conducting its own investigation in the incident.
Reynolds reportedly has video from a body camera he wore while confronting Dean, but has not shared that with anyone so far. The video is reportedly from his personally owned body cam.
Dr. Anita Thomas is an expert when it comes to human behavior. She viewed the video several times and is familiar with the Indiana refusal to identify law.
"You should still cooperate with police," Thomas said. "Simply giving his ID, sharing information would have been able to stop it. Certainly looking at the police, the security officer thinking about a more sensitive way to approach him and to ask for that information."
Thomas believes the past videos of bad police encounters involving black men has had a negative impact on how some people view police and the level of trust. She also acknowledges that many police departments will have to and are working on their community relationships because of such videos.
Court records show Dean is out of jail, released on his own recognizance.
The 21-year-old will go to court at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 13 for the incident. The Marion County Clerk of Courts has not posted a court date for his 19-year-old girlfriend Nadia Jackson.
After all of this, Reynolds is now out of a job. The Sheridan Chief of Police shared with Eyewitness News that he is no longer employed with the department and that Sheridan confiscated all of the police issued items from Reynolds including his badge.
In an email to Eyewitness News, the management company for Creekside is under the impression that Deputies from the Marion County Sheriff's Office were involved in the arrest of Jaquon Dean, which is not the case.
The Sheridan Police Chief would not say if Reynolds was fired or resigned for what happened here at Creekside at Meridian Hills Apartment Homes.