By John Tuohy/Indystar.com
An Indianapolis Metro police officer was exonerated of brutality charges early this morning after a marathon hearing before a civilian disciplinary panel.
The Police Merit Board deliberated for just under two hours before casting a 6-1 vote to clear Jerry Piland of wrongdoing.
The vote at 3:55 a.m. after more than 24 hours of testimony generated hugs and backslaps among rank-and-file officers who considered the outcome a referendum on acceptable uses of force. It also sparked a promise of recriminations for the IMPD from black clergy members, who had held up the bloodied, battered image of 15-year-old Brandon Johnson’s face as a symbol of callous police conduct and needed change
“The community is not going to be happy about this,” said the Rev. Richard Willoughby, pastor of Promised Land Christian Community Church, who attended most of the hearing that stretched just over two day. “I am going to start making calls right now and we will decide what we will do.”
The verdict was also a defeat for IMPD leadership’s plan to crack down on what they perceive as rogue cops. Public Safety Director Frank Straub and Police Chief Paul Ciesielski said Piland’s treatment of Johnson was the type of police aggression they want to weed out.
‘I’ve said it throughout and will say it again,” Ciesielski said after the ruling. “Excessive force will not be tolerated. We respect the Merit Board’s decision but this was clearly a case of excessive force.”
Mayor Greg Ballard also said that his administration would hold the line against police misconduct, despite the ruling.
“I am dismayed and disappointed by the Merit Board’s decision not to uphold the Chief’s recommendation,” Ballard said in a statement from his office. “We will continue to raise the standards and reform IMPD so that incidents like this do not happen in the future.”
Ciesielski had recommended Piland’s firing after an internal affairs investigation determined that he struck Johnson several times when he was already subdued. Ciesielski said it was the worst beating he’d seen in his 24 years as a police officer. But Piland’s attorney, John Kautzman, provided a bevy of experts and witnesses who said Johnson struggled with officers all the way up until he was handcuffed, and then some, and the punches followed police regulations.
Bill Owensby, head of the Fraternal Order of Police, said the ruling would restore morale to a department that has felt flogged by the leadership’s direction and give them the confidence that they don’t have to pull their punches when making arrests of unruly subjects.
“This was an appropriate use of force,” Owensby said. “Brandon Johnson was the master of his own destiny. He created this.”
Kautzman wouldn’t let Piland speak afterward but during merit board testimony Piland spoke at length about being a dedicated cop who did just as he was trained when he jumped in to help some fellow officer on May 16 in Eastside subdivision on his off day.
“I like to know what is going on in the area I live,” he said during 2 ½ hours of testimony. ‘I thought, uh, what’s going on down there?”
Merit Board President Jeff Oberlies said the panel largely agreed with argument laid out by Kautzman; that another officer inflicted most of the damage to Brandon’s face before Piland even laid an open palm strike on him.
In fact, said Oberlies, Officer David Carney was responsible for the whole thing — and probably should have been the one disciplined.
“Carney probably made a bad decision to arrest Johnson in the first place,” Oberlies said. “From there it escalated to where he had to punch him to knock him down because he said Brandon resisted and things just got worse.”
Board member Joe Slash voted against absolving Piland.
“When you look at the pictures of Brandon Johnson’s face it demands accountability,.” Slash said.
Oberlies said the board was also influenced by testimony form a Wishard Memorial Hospital emergency room doctor who said Brandon’s injuries were not as bad as they looked. He suffered no serious injuries or broken bones, the doctor said, and was discharged that day in good condition.
“They say a picture is worth a thousand words,” Oberlies said. “But in this case, a thousand words that we didn’t know about went with the picture.”
