Video After The Jump
MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — Four Muncie police officers have been indicted on charges accusing them of using excessive force during arrests or of trying to cover up that misconduct, a federal prosecutor announced Wednesday.
Officers Joseph Chase Winkle, 34, & Jeremy Gibson, 30, & Sgt. Joseph Krejsa, were initially charged in a 12-count indictment in March 2020.
But acting U.S. Attorney John Childress announced Wednesday that a 17-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury charges all 3 with additional counts while also charging Officer Corey Posey, 28.
Winkle now faces 11 felony offenses for alleged excessive force that includes kicking, punching, knee-striking & using a Taser without justification on 7 people during arrests, injuring them. He is also accused of writing false reports about that alleged excessive force.
The allegations stem from events that took place between March 2018 & February 2019, when Joe Winkle — Joseph Chase Winkle’s father — was police chief.
Joseph Chase Winkle is on administrative leave without pay & has also been suspended by the Muncie Police Merit Commission. Gibson & Posey are on administrative leave, while Krejsa is in the process of retiring from the department.
Gibson faces 2 counts alleging he used excessive force on 2 people, including punching them without justification during arrests & 1 count alleging he wrote a false report about 1 of those arrests.
Krejsa faces 2 counts alleging that he wrote false reports related to 2 allegations of excessive force against Winkle, while Posey faces 1 count of obstruction & 1 count of writing a false report about 1 of Winkle’s arrests.
The maximum penalty for the deprivation-of-rights offenses is 10 years in prison. The maximum penalty for false report offenses is 20 years.
The Muncie Police Department’s current leader, Chief Nate Sloan, said in a statement Wednesday that the department “continues to focus on community engagement, policy revision, officer accountability & continuing education & training for officers.”
Muncie’s current mayor, Dan Ridenour, said in a statement that “we believe that the city administration and the police department have a zero tolerance for these types of actions. We will continue to hold to that and work with anything the justice department needs during their investigation.”
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