IMPD officers on trial in death of Herman Whitfield III

This article will be updated.

The criminal trial for the police officers charged in the death of Herman Whitfield III started Monday, including testimony from a responding officer, a police supervisor and his father. 

Whitfield, a Black man, died after being restrained face down by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers during a mental health crisis in 2022. His parents had called 911 seeking assistance.

The jury will deliberate over the next five days to determine the fate of the officers. 

In April 2023, a grand jury in Indianapolis indicted two of the six responding officers, Adam Ahmad and Steven Sanchez, on charges related to Whitfield's death. Both officers arrived at the courtroom in Indianapolis this morning wearing their IMPD uniforms. 

The coroner’s office ruled Whitfield III’s death a homicide and further ruled he died from heart failure while under law enforcement restraint.

The case has led to widespread coverage and a local campaign to fire the officers involved and push for an investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice into IMPD’s practices. 

The jury will decide if the officers are guilty of felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, battery resulting in serious bodily injury, battery resulting in moderate bodily injury, and battery.

Day 2

On the second day of the trial, officer Nicholas Matthew, one of the six responding officers at the Whitfield home in the early morning of April 25, 2022, took the stand. Matthew, now a patrol officer with IMPD, was grilled by the prosecutor about why Herman Whitfield III remained face down while restrained by several officers.

“Did you roll him into the recovery position?” prosecutor Janna  asked.

“No,” Matthew said.

“Did any officer put Herman on his side in the recovery position?”

“No.”

While being questioned by the defense, Matthew confirmed that Whitfield III was restrained face down, meaning his stomach was on the ground, but that his face was not buried in the carpet. When questioned further, Matthew said he did not think Whitfield III could die in the restraint.

“Did you ever have any feeling that Herman’s life was in danger?” defense attorney John Kautzman asked.

“No,” Matthew said.

The jurors watched excerpts from body-worn camera footage showing Matthew’s perspective of the events leading up to Whitfield’s death.

“Should we roll him over?” Matthew asked, who was at Whitfield III’s feet. “No I don’t want him to keep fighting,” Ahmad responded in the body-worn camera footage.

On the stand, Matthew, a recruit officer in training at the time, said he decided to defer to the veteran officer on whether or not to move Whitfield into a different position.

As lawyers began to play body-worn camera footage from the officers during the incident, Herman Whitfield III’s parents — Herman Whitfield Jr. and Gladys Whitfield — stood up to leave the courtroom. The footage prompted tears from many in the audience, including family and friends of the Whitfields.

Much of the testimony has focused on what officers observed while Whitfield was restrained, and if they should have moved him into another position or been concerned for his well-being. While the defense questioned Officer Jordan Bull, he said he did not see any signs Whitfield III needed immediate medical attention.

But when prosecutors questioned him after that, they pressed him on whether what he saw confirmed that Whitfield was breathing or not — which could have warranted medical intervention.

“What would you expect to see if someone wasn’t breathing?” prosecutors asked. 

“Um, no rise and fall of the chest,” Bull responded.

“Did you see the rise and fall of the chest after Whitfield was handcuffed?” the jury asked Bull.

“No I did not,” he responded.

Day 1

On the first day of the trial, the jury heard testimony from IMPD Officer Dominique Clark, who was one of the six responding officers the night of Whitfield III’s death. Other testimonies included his father, Herman Whitfield Jr., and IMPD Sgt. Michael Duke, who investigated the death for the department. 

Portions of the body-worn camera were played during the first day of the trial. A 12-minute showing of Officer Sanchez’s camera footage showed Whitfield being tased and restrained face down by several officers. After remaining in that position and not moving or speaking, medics attempted to get him to move, but he was unresponsive. 

Prosecutors argue Herman needed help, not restraint. Defense says officers were objectively reasonable. 

As the first speaker, prosecuting attorney Dan Cicchini argued the jury should find the officers guilty because he died due to the officers’ restraint. 

“Herman needed help,” Cicchini said during opening statements. “Herman died that night as a result of his encounter with police.”

But in stark contrast, defense attorney Mason Riley tried to convince the jury during his opening statement that the officers in front of them never even committed a crime. 

“Neither of them are guilty of a single criminal act,” Defense attorney Mason Riley said during opening statements. 

“In the face of Herman's unpredictable and dangerous behavior, their actions were objectively reasonable," Riley continued. 

Much of the defense’s argument on the first day of trial relied on the fact that toxicology reports found cannabinoids, including Delta-9 and THC, in Whitfield’s system — which matched packages of weed gummies found in the home. 

Whitfiled III’s lip was also bleeding because his dad, Whitfield Jr., hit him before officers arrived. There was disagreement about what prompted his dad to hit him during the trial. On the stand, Whitfield Jr. said his son tried to hug his mom while naked, so he slapped him. But one of the responding officers, Dominique Clark, said Whitfield Jr. told him when he arrived that Whitfield III had “attacked” his mom.

Because of Whitfield III’s erratic behavior, Riley concluded that the officers had no choice but to restrain him in his parents’ home. 

Later during the first day of the trial, jurors viewed several excerpts of body-worn camera footage, which showed the incident from the time officers arrived to when Whitfield III was unresponsive to medics. 

When Herman Whitfield Jr., his father, answered the door for officers, he told them his son was in “a psychosis.” 

The footage showed Herman Whitfield III pulling a white tablecloth towards himself after running away from officers and then being tased. 

According to testimony and officer reports, officers fired the Taser twice and then Whitfield III was placed in handcuffs. 

Father of Herman Whitfield III and one responding officer take the stand

Herman Whitfield III’s father started crying during his testimony on Monday, Dec. 2. 

“Did you see any signs of life when he left the house?” Cicchini, the prosecutor, asked Whitfield Jr.

“No, I didn’t,” Whitfield Jr. said. 

The body-worn camera footage showed that while Whitfield III is being restrained face down, he calls out for his father. 

“Calm down, Trey” Whifield Jr. said to his son, calling him by his nickname. “It's daddy. It's daddy."

IMPD Officer Clark was one of the six officers who responded to the Whitfield home in April of 2022. During her testimony, Clark said that officers made a "collective decision" not to turn Whitfield onto his side, but that Officer Adam Ahmad, one of the two officers who was charged, was the only person who verbally said not to turn him, she added.

Sgt. Michael Duke has been the Homicide Unit Supervisor for four years and investigated the death of Whitfield III. 

During his testimony, he said he could not tell from the body-worn camera how much force was being used by officers while restraining Whitfield III. 

“I cannot say if anyone was pushing against him,” Duke said. 

Separately, the Whitfield family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Indianapolis and the six IMPD officers who responded the night of Whitfield III’s death. The family also filed a lawsuit against the city and police infederal court in 2022, which is still pending.

The lawsuit said the officer’s body camera videos show Whitfield telling officers he couldn’t breathe at least three times while he was being restrained. 

Farrah Anderson is an Investigative Health Reporter at WFYI and Side Effects Public Media. Contact her at fanderson@wfyi.org. Follow her on X @farrahsoa.