Indiana Supreme Court declines to hear case of IMPD officer who punched student
Update: On Thursday, March 2, the Indiana Supreme Court declined to hear Robert Lawson's appeal. No legal explanation was given. All of the court's five justices agreed with the decision.
An Indianapolis police officer who was captured on video punching a high school student is no longer a target of the student’s civil rights lawsuit.
Robert Lawson was convicted by a jury of official misconduct, but acquitted of a battery charge. He was suspended without pay from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department in connection with the Aug. 29, 2019, incident.
On Feb. 8, he was struck from the Shortridge High School student’s lawsuit.
More:Family files lawsuit against IMPD officer shown striking Shortridge High School student
Marion Superior Judge John M. T. Chavis II found that Lawson, who had been sued in the civil rights case for alleged excessive force, “acted in the course and scope of his employment” with the city and IMPD. Chavis didn’t give any additional analysis in his short, 1-page order, but under Indiana law, a government employee can't be sued as an individual if they were acting in the course and scope of their employment when the incident in question occurred.
The student's attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The lawsuit now continues against the City of Indianapolis and Indianapolis Public Schools, bringing Lawson’s potential financial liability for the incident to an end. But the issues raised in a separate criminal case against Lawson may not be over.
Nearly a year after he was sentenced to 363 days probation for official misconduct, Lawson is now asking the Indiana Supreme Court to weigh in on a lower court decision in the case that, according to Lawson’s lawyer and long-time police attorney John Kautzman, "will have a devastating and chilling effect on the way officers report crimes."
What happened at Shortridge High School in August 2019?
On the afternoon at the heart of both cases, IMPD officers were dispatched to help Indianapolis Public Schools Police Department break up a hallway fight and disturbance between students, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the criminal case against Lawson.
The 17-year-old, who sued Lawson and the city, had been involved in that fight. He was being escorted off school property when an altercation erupted between the student, his aunt and Lawson.
His aunt "cursed and screamed” at police, according to the affidavit, and asked why her nephew was in handcuffs when, she claimed, he was the victim.
Previous coverage:IMPD officer caught on video striking Shortridge student charged with battery, perjury
As she continued yelling at officers, Lawson threatened to arrest her. "You wanna go to jail? You wanna go to jail?" he told her. Then Lawson attempted to grab her arm and she pulled away.
After that, the student stepped in front of Lawson. He contends the student balled up his fists as if he were preparing for a fight. Then Lawson swung his fist, landing a punch to the student's left neck and jaw area, according to the affidavit.
Lawson also grabbed the student by the back of the neck and shoulder, and brought him down while raising his leg “in what appears to be a knee strike, to the chest/abdomen area,” according to the IMPD detective who wrote the affidavit.
Ex-police chief calls punch 'not taught or reasonable'
Lawson wrote in his affidavit of the incident that he performed an “open hand palm strike,” and said it was “successful.”
“Officers were able to cuff (the student)," he wrote, "without any further force.”
But after reviewing a video recording of the arrest, former Indianapolis police chief Bryan Roach said he saw it differently.
“The video shows a clear image of a closed fist punch to the face, a technique which is not taught or reasonable given the facts known to us at this time,” Roach said in a response released by the department.
IMPD chief: Punch in Shortridge High School incident captured on video was 'not taught or reasonable'
Lawson also wrote in his report of what happened that an IPSPD sergeant was next to him when it happened. He said the sergeant told him she saw the student swing at Lawson right before Lawson struck the student. When that sergeant was later interviewed by the IMPD detective, however, she denied having said that to Lawson. She also told the detective she was near the school doors, which appear to be a distance away in a civilian video of the arrest.
Warning: This video includes strong language.
Jury says Lawson not guilty of battery
The student’s lawsuit claimed Lawson falsified a police report and used excessive force. Lawson denied those claims, arguing his actions were self-defense in front of a teenager who, at the time, was “contributorily negligent and/or comparatively at fault,” his response to the lawsuit reads.
The officer was also charged by former Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry’s office with battery and false informing — both misdemeanors — in addition to three felonies of perjury, obstruction of justice and official misconduct. In November 2021 a jury found him guilty of official misconduct, false informing and perjury, but he was acquitted of the battery charge.
The jury didn’t reach a verdict on the obstruction of justice charge, so at his January 2022 sentencing hearing, prosecutors allowed that charge to be thrown out.
Previous coverage:IMPD officer who punched high school student receives probation for official misconduct
Marion Superior Judge Charnette D. Garner vacated the convictions of perjury and false informing after Lawson’s legal team argued they amounted to punishment for the same crime. He was sentenced to 363 days probation.
Lawson now wants the Indiana Supreme Court to take a look at how his criminal case occurred. If left as-is, his attorney argues, his case outcome puts "grave implications upon police officers who are encouraged, expected and required to write down the statements of witnesses to a crime."
Attorney: lower court decisions elevate perjury risk for officers
In a petition submitted to the Indiana Supreme Court in late January, Lawson’s attorney asked the justices to review the Marion County court’s decision not to allow certain instructions to be presented to the jury. He also wants a review of the court's decision to deny his request to keep the jury from hearing about his claim that the IPSPD sergeant told him the student swung at Lawson first — a claim the sergeant later denied.
“Lawson’s charges and conviction for including this particular third-party statement puts every police officer in jeopardy for any statement they recount in writing in a probable cause affidavit,” Kautzman, the attorney, wrote in his petition. “If this conviction stands, the only action that needs to occur for the officer to be convicted of false informing and perjury is for the witness to later step forward and claim, ‘I didn’t say that’ or ‘I didn’t say it quite like that.’”
By including the sergeant's alleged statement, Kautzman says Lawson wasn’t treating it as his own statement of a fact, but rather a “recitation of his interpretation and recollection of information provided by a third party.”
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Besides, the attorney contends, it wasn’t a relevant fact in Lawson’s affidavit because he arrested the student for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest — not for attempted battery. Lawson "never misled anyone," the petition states.
If he wins this argument, his entire criminal case may be overturned. "Because the underlying convictions of perjury and false informing lack sufficient basis in the record for a conviction, they should be vacated (which would then eliminate the viability of the official misconduct charge)," Kautzman wrote.
Lawson already appealed these issues to the Indiana Court of Appeals last year, but lost. The appeals court affirmed his conviction.
IMPD told IndyStar earlier this week Lawson’s status is the same now as it was in 2019: he is suspended without pay, and there’s a recommendation for his termination in front of the Civilian Police Merit Board. The board reviews those recommendations after criminal proceedings come to an end.
Call IndyStar courts reporter Johnny Magdaleno at 317-273-3188 or email him at jmagdaleno@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @IndyStarJohnny
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Supreme Court won't hear case of Indy officer who hit student
