IMPD Investigates Officer-Involved Shooting in the 7900 block of East 38th Street

INDIANAPOLIS – An officer with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has been involved in an officer-involved shooting during an investigation at an accident scene.

On April 30, 2016, at approximately 6:52 p.m., officers were investigating a multiple-car accident in the 7900 block of East 38th Street. The officers blocked the eastbound lanes of 38th Street so a wrecker could begin to move disabled vehicles from the scene.  The driver of a Jeep Commander became impatient and began driving east in the westbound lanes of travel. Officers began waving their hands to get the driver’s attention. As the vehicle came to a stop, officers approached the driver and observed smoke coming out of the drivers’ side window.  From their training, officers could smell the odor of burnt marijuana emanating from the vehicle.

Officers asked the driver of the Jeep, later identified as 27-year-old Aaron Carr, to exit the vehicle. Mr. Carr then rolled up the window and did not comply with the officer’s command. As Mr. Carr refused to get out of the vehicle, officers observed the reverse lights come on, and the tires began to spin on the wet pavement. Carr rolled up his window, put the vehicle in reverse, and accelerated backward in the westbound lanes of travel.  While fleeing, the vehicle struck an officer’s arm and upper torso. An assisting officer fired one shot at the front of the Jeep as it backed away.  Carr continued driving in reverse until he struck the median and crashed his vehicle in the 7700 block of East 38th Street.

Officers observed Carr exit the driver’s door of the Jeep and run southwest into a neighborhood.  Carr was apprehended in the 7600 block of Ruskin Place without further incident. Carr was arrested for battery on an officer as a Level 5 felony, criminal recklessness as a Level 6 felony, resisting law enforcement as a Level 6 felony, and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated as a Level 6 felony. Carr was transported to the Arrestee Processing Center

The involved officer is a 6-year veteran of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department currently assigned to East District.  In order to receive the proper coping services, the involved officer will be placed on Administrative Leave for an undetermined amount of time.  Members of the Critical Incident Review Team will conduct an investigation into the circumstances, and a parallel Internal Affairs investigation will be administered for compliance with departmental rules, all standard for any officer-involved shooting.