INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The trial for two Indianapolis police officers is underway two years after being charged in the death of a man who died while being restrained.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Officers Adam Ahmad and Steven Sanchez are charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, and battery for the April 2022 death of 39-year-old Herman Whitfield III.

Police were called to his home by his parents for a mental health crisis.

Monday’s testimony centered heavily around the body camera video from multiple officers who were on the scene. 

The videos from both Officer Ahmad and Officer Sanchez were shown to the jury. Ahmad watched the video, while Sanchez appeared to sit and look straight ahead. 

The footage shows officers trying to get Whitfield to put clothes on so they could take him to the hospital. It also shows Sanchez using his taser twice, after which IMPD officers forced Whitfield III to the ground and put him in handcuffs.

The defense is arguing the taser did not shock Whitfield III because both prongs of the taser did not stick into his body when Officer Sanchez shot him with it.

The prosecution is putting a lot of focus on the position that Whitfield III was in after officers cuffed him. 

He was face down in a prone position for several minutes while officers cuffed him and called for the paramedics outside of the home to come inside to help transport him to the hospital. 

IMPD policy states that officers must move someone in custody out of the prone position as soon as possible to avoid asphyxiation.

The prosecution is arguing that officers Ahmad and Sanchez did not follow their training, while they also held him down in the prone position. 

The defense argues that Ahmad and Sanchez were not putting downward pressure on Whitfield III while they waited for paramedics to come inside, and that they followed IMPD policy while placing Whitefield III in handcuffs.

The Marion County coroner ruled his death a homicide, saying his heart stopped while being restrained.

Both the prosecution and defense are expected to call their own medical experts to present their findings on the cause of death to the jury. 

Whitfield’s parents have also sued the city and IMPD in a pair of civil cases. Those cases could head to court sometime after this trial wraps up.

Marion County Superior Court Judge Charles Miller told the court Monday that the trial will only last one week.