INDIANAPOLIS — The trial for two IMPD officers is set to begin today, over two years after Herman Whitfield III died in police custody.
The jury was seated last week. The trial will start at 9 a.m. in the Marion County courthouse.
Officers Adam Ahmad and Steven Sanchez face charges including Involuntary Manslaughter, Reckless Homicide and Battery.
Ahmad and Sanchez previously sought to have charges dismissed but a judge denied the motion last month.
WHAT WE KNOW:
Whitfield died in April 2022 after police responded to his parent's home for a report of a man suffering from a mental health crisis.
Gladys Whitfield called 911 at about 3:20 a.m. on April 25 asking for help with their son who was suffering a mental health crisis at their home in the 3700 block of Marrison Place. Officers arrived shortly after.
"My son is having a psychosis," Herman Whitfield Jr. is heard on police body camera video telling the officers. "You guys should have called an ambulance."
Whitfield was stunned twice by a stun gun with six officers on the scene. The incident was captured on a series of 11 different body cameras.
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The Marion County Coroner's Office ruled Whitfield's death as a homicide caused by “cardiopulmonary arrest in the setting of law enforcement subdual, prone restraint, and conducted electrical weapon use."
Whitfield's family claimed police violated their training in keeping him face down after he was restrained, and that Whitfield stated that he couldn't breathe at least three times before he died.
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Shortly after Whitfield's death, there were calls for changes to the protocol surrounding mental health calls. In 2023, Indianapolis launched a clinician-led response team, a program that allows mental health clinicians and other experts to respond to 911 calls.
Herman Whitfield III was recognized as a loving man and a gifted pianist, whose love for music brought people together.
