The Associated Press
MULBERRY, Ind. (AP) -- Town Council members have decided to keep two police officers on the job even as they face criminal charges for shooting at a vehicle whose driver tried to flee a traffic stop.
The Tippecanoe County prosecutor last week filed felony charges of criminal recklessness against Town Marshal Glenn L. Wilson, 54, and Deputy Marshal Matthew K. Myers, 31, for firing nine shots at a car they had stopped that was driven by a man wanted for violating probation.
Town Council members released a statement Wednesday saying none of them had found any basis for disciplinary action against either Wilson or Myers.
“The officers will therefore remain in full active status for the town of Mulberry,” said the statement. After hearing public comment at its May 11 meeting, “the council will consider a resolution to formally make its determination.”
Wilson, a transport officer for the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department, and Myers, a deputy with that department, were working in their part-time jobs for the town at the time of the shooting.
Clinton County Sheriff Mark Mitchell said the two officers spent three days on unpaid administrative leave after their arrest last week but then returned to work on non-law enforcement administrative duties.
Mitchell said he supported both officers and was confident that they had acted properly in firing their weapons at the vehicle.
Myers had stopped the car just inside Tippecanoe County about 10 miles southeast of Lafayette and reported that Shane Wilson, no relation to the town marshal, refused to get out of the car. The officers said that they fired after Shane Wilson tried to drive away.
Shane Wilson disputed that account, saying he fled only after Glenn Wilson shot his car’s left rear tire.
“They were trying to kill me,” Shane Wilson said, pointing to the bullet hole in his rear windshield. “That’s a death shot right there.”
Shane Wilson faces a charge of resisting arrest over the confrontation.
Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Jerry Bean declined to respond to the Mulberry council’s statement, but said last week that police officers may only use deadly force when lives were in danger.
Both officers are scheduled to make initial court appearances May 24. A message seeking comment was left Thursday at the Indianapolis office of their attorney, John Ruckelshaus.