INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A man accused of hitting an Indianapolis police officer and a security guard while driving under the influence on Saturday night reportedly admitted to police he’d used cocaine before the incidents.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department arrested Derrick Bryant, 28, early Sunday morning.
An arrest affidavit obtained by News 8 says around 10:25 p.m. Saturday, an IMPD officer in the 200 block of South Meridian Street, just south of Maryland Street, noticed a car stopped under a bridge “continuously honking its horn” for several minutes.
The officer, in full IMPD uniform, approached the vehicle. Its driver, identified as Bryant, reportedly “made eye contact with (the officer) and immediately turned the vehicle’s steering wheel to the left and began moving forward.”
As the car moved, it struck the officer’s leg. As Bryant sped up, police say the officer’s arm was pinned “between the inside of the door and the driver’s seat.” The officer, at first, could not free himself but eventually did, falling to the ground and “rolling to a stop.”
Police say Bryant tried to flee, but couldn’t due to traffic. The officer, while still on the ground, then saw Bryant start to back up towards him. The officer rolled out of the way to avoid being hit a second time.
Bryant then turned around, parked his vehicle about a block north of the incident, and fled on foot.
The officer “suffered pain as well as minor scrapes and scratches to his body,” court documents say. His handcuffs also sustained damage and fell out of his utility belt, along with pistol magazines.
Court documents did not provide any information on the security guard reportedly hit by Bryant shortly before the officer was hurt.
At 11:40 p.m., over an hour after dispatchers shared Bryant’s information over the radio, a Marion County sheriff’s deputy working downtown noticed Bryant near Meridian and Louisiana streets. When the deputy tried speaking to Bryant, he immediately fled on foot.
Bryant was eventually caught and taken into custody right in front of the IMPD Downtown District Roll Call building. The affidavit said, “Officers who apprehended Bryant reported that he displayed signs of intoxication.”
Police took Bryant to Eskenazi for a blood draw. When detectives spoke with Bryant at the hospital, Bryan reportedly admitted to driving the car when he hit the officer downtown, but he just “panicked and drove away after being stopped.”
Bryant, glassy-eyed and smelling of alcohol, also told detectives he didn’t believe he was drunk at the time, but felt that he was “over the legal limit.”
He also admitted to doing cocaine before attending the Supercross event at Lucas Oil Stadium.
IMPD Chief Tanya Terry responded to the incident on social media, calling it “troubling” and “unacceptable.”
“This morning I saw a video circulating on social media that left me angry and deeply disturbed,” she said. “What is the most disappointing is that many people continued recording on their phones and going about their night after watching those working to keep the area safe get injured. I am thankful for the few individuals who stepped forward to help.”
“Let me be clear,” she continued. “This kind of reckless and violent behavior will not be tolerated in our city. No one who wears a badge or stands guard to protect his community should ever be treated as a target or spectacle.”
Bryant was subsequently booked into the Marion County jail on charges of driving under the influence/operating while intoxicated while endangering a person, resisting law enforcement, and leaving the scene of an accident causing moderate or serious bodily injury.
He’s due in court for a hearing on Wednesday morning.
The results of his blood draw have not been released.
