Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit against 4 Kokomo police officers in man’s 2017 death
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A federal judge in Indianapolis refused Friday to dismiss a lawsuit against four Kokomo Police Department officers after the death of a man in custody in 2017.
The judge rejected the four officers’ claims that they were immune to the lawsuit because they were acting within their official duties.
The Kokomo Police Department said 21-year-old Tavaris McGuire and two others were arrested around 12:30 a.m. Feb. 4, 2017. McGuire began behaving erratically during the criminal booking process, at one point clutching his chest. He later died at Ascension St. Vincent Kokomo hospital.
McGuire had been arrested along with Nicholas Groleau and Harley Mayhew following a traffic stop at the intersection of Mulberry and Leeds streets, and faced charges of dealing and possessing methamphetamine.
A portion of the judge’s ruling issued Friday said that “a reasonable jury considering the evidence in the light most favorable to McGuire could conclude that each of the Defendants did not act reasonably in waiting as long as they did to call an ambulance because … they did not ‘spring into action,’ their delay was not justified because they were tending to other emergent needs, and there was no one present to provide emergency treatment to McGuire before the ambulance was called.”
McGuire’s estate filed the lawsuit.
The four officers named in the lawsuit are Robert Baker, a former Kokomo police chief who is now director of safety and security for Kokomo Schools, and officers Jeramie Dodd, and Richie Sears and Aaron Tarrh.
