Man at center of video of Henry County traffic stop talks to I-Team 8
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Elvante Riddick was the man I-Team 8 recently showed viewers from a video that raised concerns about Indiana town marshals’ programs.
The 26-year-old was pulled over on July 2 by the Henry County sheriff. Riddick says it is a traffic stop that has altered the course of his life.
Riddick sat down with I-Team 8 to explain what happen the day he was pulled over by the Henry County Sheriff John Sproles.
“In that video, I not sure, he was calling me part of a gang going around to small towns trying to infiltrate, you know, trying to become police chief,” Riddick said.
He says he doesn’t have any connection to any gang and is not aware that any of his friends do either.
Riddick was on his way home in a retired police car he said he bought a few days earlier. He had not seen the video until I-Team 8 showed it to him.
“Now he is like asking questions that don’t even pertain to me driving without a license plate. He is asking about the lights in the car. The wires were cut. He is telling me about the problem he’s having with small towns pulling people over and just making a bad name for themselves. None of this stuff pertains to me driving without a license plate anymore,” Riddick said.
At the time he was pulled over, Riddick was considering becoming a deputy marshal. He says a friend of his was trying to start a police department in East Germantown.
Sheriff Sproles told I-Team 8 that one of the men trying to start that department had served time in prison and was associated with a gang.
Riddick says that doesn’t add up.
“I worked with him at the New Castle prison. He was a correctional officer there. I have no knowledge of him ever being arrested,” Riddick said.
Riddick told I-Team 8 that he has an associate degree in criminal justice, and has completed basic police training. His dream was to become a police officer. He worked for a short time in a small department in Henry County.
He was convicted of impersonating a public servant in 2018,
“There were red and blue lights on a green SUV. I was sitting in the passenger seat. The deputy at the time was asking numerous questions, like where was I working, if I had arrest powers. I don’t remember the whole logistics of it. It’s been a while. It shouldn’t have happened,” Riddick said.
He says he has given up on becoming a police officer, at least for the foreseeable future.
He says when the towing of his car cost him close to $700. He feels like he was targeted by the sheriff.