police brutality

A jury has acquitted two Indianapolis police officers of excessive force for striking two women with batons during arrests at a May 2020 protest over the murder of George Floyd.

A final Muncie police officer charged in a federal police brutality investigation – whose case resulted in two undecided jury trials – has pleaded guilty to a federal charge and will give up his career in law enforcement.

Court documents say one officer leaned on the man's neck, cut off his breathing and began choking him. The other restrained the victim by holding onto his legs.  

According to the FBI investigation that led to the charges, Winkle kicked, punched, used knee-strikes and a taser on several arrestees without justification.

Prosecutors said Malik Muhammad traveled from Indianapolis to Portland and on several days in September 2020 threw Molotov cocktails at police, broke windows in buildings, and provided bats to others so they could do the same.