Prosecutor says officers acted 'recklessly' in Black man's death during mental health crisis

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two Indianapolis police officers charged in the death of a Black man — who was shocked with a Taser during a mental health crisis — acted “recklessly" by restraining him face down longer than necessary, a prosecutor said during opening statements Monday.

Officers Adam Ahmad and Steven Sanchez were indicted by a grand jury in April 2023 in Herman Whitfield III’s 2022 death. They are being tried together as co-defendants for what's expected to be a five-day trial.

Both men face one felony count each of involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, battery resulting in serious bodily injury and battery resulting in moderate injury, and one misdemeanor battery charge.

Daniel Cicchini, the chief trial deputy for the Marion County Prosecutor's Office, said in his opening statement that Ahmad and Sanchez held Whitfield face down on the floor of his parents’ dining room longer than was necessary while he was being handcuffed.

Cicchini said the officers' actions left the man, who was obese, “unable to breathe."

“Essentially his heart and lungs could no longer function properly,” Cicchini told the jury. "When they kept him in that position they did so recklessly.”

He also told the jurors that the two officers' actions were “a substantial deviation from their training.”

But Mason Riley, an attorney for Ahmad and Sanchez, said during his opening statement that Whitfield suffered from an enlarged heart. He said Whitfield, who weighed 389 pounds (176 kilograms) according to his autopsy, had died “before the handcuffing concluded.”

“Neither of them have committed a single criminal act,” Riley said of the co-defendants.

He also said neither officer, nor other officers who responded to the family's home, heard Whitfield say he could not breathe.

Ahmad, 32, and Sanchez, 35, were indicted after Whitfield’s family had spent nearly a year demanding that police release full body camera videos of his encounter with officers and called for the firing of up to six officers. Both officers remain on administrative duty with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

Whitfield’s parents had called 911 on April 25, 2022, and reported that their 39-year-old son, a gifted pianist, was in the throes of a mental health crisis at the family’s Indianapolis home.

The videos of the police response to the Whitfield home were released in January 2023 and document Whitfield's final moments alive during a chaotic encounter with police.

Responding officers found Whitfield naked and pacing inside the home. Body camera videos show officers trying to convince Whitfield to put on clothing so he could be taken to a hospital. But Whitfield did not dress, and he avoided contact with the officers, moving from room to room.

Whitfield is eventually seen running past a dining room table before Sanchez shocks him with a Taser and Whitfield falls to the floor, toppling furniture. Sanchez, Ahmad and other officers are seen holding a struggling Whitfield face down on the floor while they work to handcuff him.

Whitfield can be heard saying “can't breathe” a few times and exclaiming before he eventually falls silent. When officers rolled the handcuffed Whitfield over, he was unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The first witness called Monday was Dominque Clark, one of the first officers to arrive at the Whitfield home. Jurors were shown her body camera video, starting with her arrival at the scene with Ahmad already inside the home.

Clark testified that after the officers Tasered and handcuffed Whitfield, she did not hear him say he could not breathe and she also did not hear him gasping for breath. Clark also said she felt that the officers were not using “maximal restraint” as they had their hands on Whitfield while he was being handcuffed.

“I would not say ‘holding him down.’ I would say they were making contact,” Whitfield, she said.

The Marion County Coroner’s Office ruled Whitfield’s death a homicide. An autopsy lists his cause of death as “cardiopulmonary arrest in the setting of law enforcement subdual, prone restraint, and conducted electrical weapon use.”

The coroner's office listed “morbid obesity” and “hypertensive cardiovascular disease” as contributing factors in his death.

The officers’ attorneys had sought to have the charges dismissed against both men, arguing in part that the grand jury proceedings were “defective” and that “the facts stated do not constitute an offense.”

The court dismissed a second count of involuntary manslaughter Sanchez had faced, but it allowed the remaining charges against the officers to proceed to trial, said John Kautzman, one of the officers' attorneys.

He said the involuntary manslaughter charge that was dismissed involved Sanchez's use of a Taser against Whitfield.

A civil lawsuit filed by Whitfield's family against the city of Indianapolis and six police officers, including Ahmad, Sanchez and Clark, states that Whitfield “died because of the force used against him” and calls the force used against him “unreasonable and excessive.”

“Mr. Whitfield needed professional mental health care, not the use of excessive force,” the filing said.

The family is seeking unspecified damages. That civil case is set for trial in July 2025 in federal court in Indianapolis.

This undated photo provided by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department shows officer Steven Sanchez. (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department via AP)

This undated photo provided by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department shows officer Adam Ahmad. (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department via AP)

This undated photo provided by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department shows officer Adam Ahmad. (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department via AP)

This undated photo provided by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department shows officer Steven Sanchez. (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department via AP)

This undated photo provided by Hilary Close shows Herman Whitfield III, who died in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department custody on April 25, 2022. (Hilary Close via AP)

This undated photo provided by Hilary Close shows Herman Whitfield III, who died in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department custody on April 25, 2022. (Hilary Close via AP)

GENEVA (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s growing influence and massive spending in global sports ahead of being confirmed by FIFA as the 2034 World Cup host was detailed on Monday in a report that cited risks to good governance off the field.

More than 900 sponsor deals — more than one-third traced to the $925 billion Saudi sovereign wealth fund — and a network of officials with overlapping state, business and sports roles were cited by Play The Game, a publicly funded sports ethics institute in Denmark.

The oil-rich kingdom’s investment of tens of billions of dollars in soccer, golf, boxing, tennis, the Esports Olympics and a yet-to-be-built ski resort will get its most coveted prize next week from FIFA, the 2034 World Cup in men’s soccer.

The close ties between FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman were built since 2018 amid global criticism of the kingdom’s record on human rights, including for women, migrant workers and freedom of expression.

“Saudi Arabia’s sports strategy seeks to divert attention from these realities, revealing the tension between the ideals of sport and the realities of power, money, and politics,” Play The Game’s Stanis Elsborg said in the report.

FIFA passed a mandatory step toward the 2034 decision by publishing at the weekend an in-house evaluation of the World Cup hosting plan that offered more praise than critical analysis, including labor issues for how most of the 15 stadiums will be built.

On Dec. 11 in Zurich, FIFA will host an online meeting to ask more than 200 member federations to acclaim Saudi Arabia as the 2034 host, 14 months after shaping a fast-tracked and narrow-focused contest that produced just one candidate.

Nearly 50 of those voters have signed working agreements with the Saudi soccer federation, while the soccer bodies for North America, Africa and Asia separately struck cooperation deals or tournament sponsor deals with the sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF), state oil firm Aramco and the planned megacity project Neom.

“The awarding of the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia is merely the culmination of years of strategic investments and behind-the-scenes manoeuvring,” said the report, called “Saudi Arabia's grip on world sport.”

FIFA itself signed Aramco in April to an elevated World Cup sponsor category of “major worldwide partner,” worth a reported $100 million each year through 2027.

The chairman of Aramco, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, also is governor of the PIF which has a goal to "deliver a strategy focused on achieving attractive financial returns and long-term value for the country.” He is chairman also of the LIV Golf project, new airline Riyadh Air, and English Premier League club Newcastle.

“Aramco and FIFA intend to leverage the power of football to create impactful social initiatives around the world,” FIFA said in April.

Saudi state and sports officials have consistently cited the crown prince's Vision 2030 program to diversify the economy beyond dependence on oil and modernize the traditionally conservative society while giving opportunities to a young population.

Infantino has not taken questions from international media, nor held a news conference, in the 14 months since the Saudi candidacy was declared. No news conference is scheduled on Dec. 11 at FIFA headquarters after the closed-doors meeting.

More Saudi commercial deals are expected after the 2034 World Cup decision, either for the 2026 edition being played in North America or the revamped Club World Cup being staged by the United States next year.

“It’s very complex — there’s lots of interlinked parts,” Dan Plumley, sports finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Monday.

“We are living in a utopia if we think that sport and politics can be separated in the modern world because that’s impossible,” Plumley said. “There is always power, influence and money, which ultimately dictates the direction of travel.”

AP Sports Writer Steve Douglas contributed.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Newcastle United's Sandro Tonali, left, and Crystal Palace's Ismaila Sarr battle for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Crystal Palace and Newcastle United at Selhurst Park, London, Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (Ben Whitley/PA via AP)

FILE - Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, left, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, stand for the anthem prior to the match between Russia and Saudi Arabia which opened the 2018 soccer World Cup at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, Russia, on June 14, 2018. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)