Special prosecutor requested in Ind. OIS

By: The Associated Press, policeone.com

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A special prosecutor was requested Monday to investigate the fatal shooting of a black man by a white police officer in a case that has inflamed tensions between the black community and law enforcement and roiled the Democratic presidential campaign of Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

St. Joseph County Prosecutor Kenneth Cotter filed a petition asking a judge to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the June 16 shooting of 54-year-old Eric Logan by South Bend police Sgt. Ryan O’Neill. It comes a day after Buttigieg said he would write the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and notify Cotter that he’d like an independent investigator appointed.

Cotter’s petition also revealed that O’Neill had been accused of making “inappropriate racial remarks” as a patrol officer 11 years ago. The South Bend Fraternal Order of Police, which represents local officers including O’Neill, issued a statement Monday saying that it supports O’Neill and accusing Buttigieg of “driving a wedge between law enforcement officers and the community they took an oath to serve.”

Full story: https://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/484239006-Special-prosecutor-requested-in-Ind-OIS/