Activists Call For South Bend Officer To Resign, Be Placed On Unpaid Leave

Several South Bend activists and a family member of Eric Logan expressed their frustration at the lack of changes following the police shooting of Logan on June 16. They also started a petition demanding that Mayor Pete Buttigieg recommend punitive action against the officer.

At the site where Eric Logan was fatally shot, activists called Sgt. Ryan O’Neill’s paid leave since the incident “unfair” to Logan’s family and to taxpayers. 

The group then went to the South Bend Mayor’s office to deliver a petition asking Buttigieg to call for O’Neill to resign and that be be placed on unpaid leave. When they arrived, only an intern was available to receive the message. They decided to keep the petition, but say they will return again with more signatures.

Logan’s brother, Tyree Bonds was with the group and says this represented an effort to use formal channels to pressure for change.

“I’ve got to fight the way they fight,” Bonds says. “And I’m going to fight. And I ain’t going to stop fighting until we get the right things done.”

According to the South Bend Board of Public Safety’s website, Indiana law prohibits placing an officer on leave without pay before a hearing is held.