Man shot by IMPD officers in grandmother’s driveway files federal lawsuit

Anthony Maclin, the man who was shot by Indianapolis police while asleep in his grandmother’s driveway last December, has filed a federal lawsuit against the city and police.

On Friday, a Marion County grand jury indicted two of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers who shot Maclin – Carl Chandler and Alexander Gregory. They face multiple felony charges, including aggravated battery and criminal recklessness. Chandler and Gregory pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday.

Maclin and his grandmother filed their lawsuit against the three officers involved in the shooting: Chandler, Gregory, and Lucas Riley. The City of Indianapolis and IMPD Chief Randal Taylor are also named as defendants in the suit.

“Anthony was sleeping, not committing any crime, not threatening anybody, not doing anything that deserved a barrage of bullets that day,” said Stephen Wagner, Maclin’s attorney, at a news conference Monday.

Early in the morning on Dec. 31, 2022, Maclin’s grandmother Vickie Driver called 911 because a car she didn’t recognize was parked in her driveway. Officers arrived and found Maclin asleep in the car. Driver was unaware that her grandson was in the car, which he had rented.

Edited body-worn camera footage shows IMPD officers approached the car and identified a gun in Maclin’s lap, which is not immediately visible on camera. The officers then attempted to open the car’s doors and shone flashlights into the windows.

About three minutes after their arrival, officers began to knock on the windows to wake Maclin. The IMPD narrative in the edited body-worn camera footage then claims Maclin moved his arm toward the passenger seat, followed by about six seconds of steady gunfire from the officers. According to the lawsuit, the officers fired at least 32 rounds into the car.

Maclin was struck three times by gunfire and hospitalized for his injuries, which required multiple surgeries.

Wagner said Maclin has accrued almost $1 million in medical bills and still needs treatment and counseling. The lawsuit claims the defendants are liable for these costs, as well as emotional distress.

At a news conference Monday, Maclin said he still has bullets inside his body, which could move at any point and cause further damage.

“Words cannot explain what this has done to me,” Maclin said. He said his faith has played a major role in his recovery.

Driver said she has been involved in the community for years, and worked to bridge the gap between residents and police.

“As of December 31, I felt like they smacked me in my face big time,” Driver said at a news conference. “Why? Because so many things could have happened to prevent us from being here today. And it tears me up every day because I see a young man, which happens to be my grandson, struggle.”

In addition to the civil lawsuit, Maclin and his family are calling for Taylor to suspend the officers without pay and recommend their termination by the Indianapolis Civilian Police Merit Board.

Contact WFYI criminal justice reporter Katrina Pross at kpross@wfyi.org. Pross is a Corps Member of Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.