On June 29th, 2017 officers, Carlton Howard and Michael Dinnsen, took the life of Aaron Bailey; an unarmed African American man whom had just crashed his vehicle into a tree head on. Aaron Bailey's last breaths were taken between 11 gun shots fired on him from behind, four of which were fatal, entering into his back and exiting his chest. Recently, officers Howard and Dinnsen went before the IMPD Firearms Review Board on Friday and answered questions about what happened on June 29. The five-person board then provided their opinions to IMPD Chief Bryan Roach. It was determined by the board that the actions of the two officers "did not comply with IMPD training and policy," the board unanimously concluded.

After discussing the board's findings, Chief Roach said he did not find sufficient reason to believe deadly force was necessary to affect Bailey's arrest. He also found no reason to believe Bailey posed a threat of serious injury or death to the officers or another person.

The chief recommended to the Civilian Police Merit Board that they be fired based on the following factors, per an IMPD release:

• After considering IMPD’s training and policies, the facts presented to the Board, the Board’s recommendation, the opinions of his executive staff, and his own 27 years of experience, Chief Roach reached the following conclusions: Sufficient reason did not exist to believe that deadly force was necessary to affect the arrest of Mr. Bailey, nor to believe Mr. Bailey posed a threat of serious bodily injury to the officer or any third person.

• There was a failure by the officers to apply their training regarding high-risk traffic stops, which would have allowed them to better assess the situation. By following IMPD training, the officers would have allowed themselves time, distance, cover, and a safer encounter for the officers, Mr. Bailey, and Ms. Ward.

• One of IMPD’s values states: The protection and perseveration of life is our fundamental objective. We will only use deadly force when necessary to protect the life of a citizen or officer and when other options are not reasonably available. There were other reasonable options available to the officers in this incident.

Aaron Bailey has been denied justice from the moment he was killed. We know that the potential for interactions with law enforcement to be fatal when the victim is black. Justice would have seen Mr. Bailey live to see another day. This was not the case. A small measure of justice would be indictments for the officers for their bias and bigoted role in his death. This sliver of justice eluded him as well as Special Prosecutor Kenneth P. Cotter elected not to indict the officers for their crimes.

Terminating these officers is the very least that can be done. Not only to offer justice to Aaron Bailey and the Bailey family, but to protect the citizens of Indianapolis from experiencing the same fate at the hand of trigger happy officers who blatantly disregard policy and procedure, the use of force continuum and display the highest levels of implicit bias.

Aaron Bailey should still be alive, but the officers responsible for his death were awarded 120+ days of paid vacation. We the undersigned are urging the Indianapolis Civilian Police Merit Board (Michael Morken, Nikki Moore, Joe Slash, Darryl Pierce, KP Singh, and  Ronald Covington, Sr.) to do the right thing and effectively remove officers Carlton J. Howard and Michal P. Dinnsen from duty for good.

#Justice4AaronBailey
#BlackLivesMatter
#DontSleep