Police officer hurt in shooting testifies at accused man’s attempted murder trial
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — More testimony was heard on the second day of the trial of a man accused of shooting an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer.
The officer, who survived the shooting, on Wednesday came face-to-face with the man accused of shooting him during what was often bizarre, unorthodox questioning from the defendant, who is representing himself in his trial on two charges of attempted murder.
The first day of the trial on Tuesday saw Mylik Hill, 33, declare his innocence.
Hill is accused of shooting Officer Tommy Mandan in the neck during late-night hours in February 2022 in the Fountain Square area.
Two officers were dispatched to the 1600 block of Lexington Avenue after someone called police just after 10 p.m. Feb. 27, 2022, and reported that a man in a red jacket was driving a red car and exposing himself. The officers later found Hill on Woodlawn Avenue and ordered him to stop, but he ignored the command, according to Randal Taylor, who was then the chief of IMPD.
During lengthy testimony Wednesday from Mangan, he spoke slowly and with a hoarse voice. With long pauses after being asked questions, he testified the shooting slowed his cognition and ability to interpret questions he was being asked.
In court, Mangan recalled “a dark object and then a flash of light” that he said was Hill pulling and then shooting a gun.
Prosecutors showed the bodycam video.
“Do you remember anything after that?” Mangan was asked.
“I do not,” he said, adding that he was shot in his voice box.
Court testimony on Wednesday indicated police had been called about a car crash allegedly involving Hill. When police confronted him, he ran away. Mangan eventually caught up to Hill, and that’s when Hill fired two shots toward Mangan.
One shot hit Mangan’s radio.
Other officers shot back before Hill was apprehended and arrested.
Prosecutors have said they have evidence of Hill’s guilt, pointing to what they said was DNA from both Hill and Mangan on the gun police said Hill used in the shooting.
Referring to himself as “the defendant,” Hill on Wednesday questioned Mangan directly.
“Did you pull the defendant over in a traffic stop, yes or no?” Hill said as he cross-examined Mangan.
For the second day, Hill’s bizarre courtroom manner caused prosecutors to object several times, interjecting at one point Wednesday that Hill’s words showed he was having a difficult time representing himself in court, which may cause prosecutors to seek a mistrial.
The words Hill was using may bias the jury in Hill’s favor, showing him as sympathetic, prosecutors said.
After showing Hill patience during much of the afternoon, one line of questioning brought a scolding from Superior Court Judge Angela Davis.
Toward the end of Mangan’s testimony, the judge asked Hill if he had any more questions.
“I feel like my rights are being violated,” Hill said as jurors were present.
Prosecutors immediately objected, at which point Davis told Hill to “stop talking.”
The jury was instructed not to use Hill’s statement in their deliberations at the end of the trial.
In the trial, Hill also faces felony charges of resisting law enforcement, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.
The trial will resume at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in Marion Superior Court 27 on the Indianapolis-Marion County Community Justice Campus. The trial was expended to wrap up by the end of the week.
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