Before he died in police custody in 2022, Herman Whitfield III was handcuffed and placed face down on the floor by police officers.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officer Nicolas Mathew, a new recruit at the time, was one of six officers who responded on the day of Whitfield’s death.
He testified in Marion Superior Court on Dec. 3 that he had asked another officer if Whitfield should be turned on his side.
That officer — Adam Ahmad — told him not to, Mathew told jurors.
And it wasn’t until medics arrived in the home that Whitfield was turned on his side. He had been face down for about five minutes.
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Those revelations came during the second day of a criminal trial against Ahmad and fellow IMPD officer Steven Sanchez. The two are being tried as co-defendants and face charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide and battery in connection with Whitfield’s death.
The officers, who maintain their innocence, remain on administrative leave with IMPD.
Mathew and two other responding officers who testified Dec. 3 — Jordan Bull and Matthew Virt — asserted that Whitfield was properly restrained.
Still, Mathew’s description of his brief exchange with Ahmad gets to a central question in Ahmad and Sanchez’s criminal trial: Should officers have acted differently in those five minutes?
And would Whitfield still be alive if they had done so?
Did Whitfield say he couldn’t breathe?
Police arrived at the Whitfield home in the early morning hours of April 25, 2022, after Gladys Whitfield called 911 as her son was experiencing a mental health crisis.
Whitfield, who is a large man, was naked, incoherent and sweating profusely. After officers’ unsuccessful attempts to get Whitfield to put clothes on and get into an ambulance waiting outside, Whitfield ran through the house. Officer Sanchez shocked him with a Taser.
Whitfield fell to the floor, and officers placed Whitfield on his stomach, placed his hands behind his back and handcuffed him.
After several minutes of Whitfield laying handcuffed in the prone position, Mathew said he asked Ahmad if they should roll Whitfield over.
Mathew told jurors that Ahmad told him not to because Ahmad didn’t want him to get up again.
Then there is the question of whether Whitfield said “I can’t breathe” while on the floor.
Four officers who have testified thus far — one on the first day of trial, three others on the second day — said they did not hear Whitfield say he couldn’t breathe.
Whitfield’s parents, though, have maintained that they heard their son say the words while being handcuffed. In court, it was difficult to make out his muffled voice recorded on the body camera footage.
Officers also testified that they found edible THC gummy wrappers at the scene. An autopsy indicated that Whitfield had high levels of the psychoactive chemical found in marijuana in his system.
The Marion County Coroner’s Office determined that Whitfield died of heart failure as a result of police restraint. The manner of death was listed as a homicide.
‘Is five minutes with no movement not enough?’
Body camera footage showed that none of the officers checked Whitfield’s pulse while he was on the floor.
It didn’t happen until paramedics arrived.
By that point, Whitfield had been lying prone for about five minutes.
Jurors are allowed to submit questions during the trial. So one asked: “Is five minutes with no movement not enough to check for a pulse?”
Officer Jordan Bull, who was the training officer accompanying Mathew to the Whitfield home, had difficulty answering the question.
The trial will continue Dec. 4 with more witness testimony expected. The jury is expected to reach a verdict by Dec. 6.
Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.
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