Takeaways from AP’s investigation into fatal police incidents in one Midwestern city

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — The police department in Evansville said one recruit died and another was injured in a “routine” training exercise at its police academy.

What was unsaid: Both rookies had been hurt in the “Big Fight” after going against the same instructor who wrapped them in headlocks, punched them and sat on their chests.

It wasn’t the first time the department in southern Indiana had downplayed the use of force after someone died — or that its training would be called into question in a fatal incident.

Before the academy tragedy, four people died over just 14 months on Evansville’s streets after officers used tactics or weapons that are not intended to kill — yet have contributed to the deaths of civilians across the nation. That cluster stood out for a mid-sized city among the more than 1,000 deaths after force such as Tasers and holds that an investigation led by The Associated Press documented.

The AP’s investigation found a pattern after these five deaths: Authorities minimized the use of force, the county coroner who has long ties to law enforcement ruled that officers did not contribute to the deaths, and no officer was criminally charged.

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Evansville was not the only department where AP found these dynamics, and the U.S. Department of Justice has raised concerns in other cities about the same types of force-related issues.

A city lawyer said force by Evansville officers has “overwhelmingly been deemed lawful” when challenged in court.

Here are takeaways from the AP-led investigation:

The ‘Big Fight’

Police academies have long held fight days or similar drills to toughen up rookies before they hit the streets. Evansville’s “Big Fight” was based on a scenario in which an officer ran up the stairs of an apartment building to apprehend two people.

Former coal miner Asson Hacker, 33, was thrilled to be hired as a deputy for the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office but confided to his brother he was dreading the Big Fight in March 2023.

Video shows Hacker was already exhausted a little more than halfway through his seven-minute fight against Mike Fisher, a hulking major at a nearby sheriff’s department. Instructors yelled at him to fight on.

Hacker passed out minutes after it ended and was pronounced dead at a hospital that day.

Evansville police recruit Tanner Corum was next to fight Fisher, who sat on his chest, held him to the mat with an arm around his neck, and punched him in the stomach.

Corum collapsed after his bout and was rushed to the same hospital as Hacker. Both men were diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, a life-threatening condition sometimes caused by excessive exercise or trauma. Corum also had a spinal injury.

Fisher later told investigators he wasn’t there to hurt anyone, and he faced no criminal charges. He declined to speak for this story.

Rookie trained to fear

Rookie Evansville Officer Trevor Koontz was required by his field training officer to recite a saying before each shift: “Whoever I am dealing with may try and kill me. I will not make a mistake so that my wife is a widow.”

Experts say such a mindset can lead police to rapidly escalate encounters.

In September 2019, Koontz and his trainer responded to a welfare check and found 55-year-old Edward Snukis standing on a sidewalk. Koontz immediately ordered Snukis to put his hands on his head and grabbed his arm. A startled Snukis swung free, hitting Koontz, and then ran.

Koontz’s partner shocked Snukis with a Taser and the officers piled on his back and held him face down – a position known to dangerously restrict breathing — as they tried to handcuff him. Within minutes, Snukis had stopped breathing.

Series of deaths

Snukis’ death was followed by three others involving Evansville police and physical force.

In February 2020, Dean Smith fled after an officer pulled over his vehicle. A police dog caught Smith and bit his legs. Bleeding and handcuffed, Smith told officers he had asthma and couldn’t breathe. An officer told Smith, who was Black, “Boy, you’re being overly dramatic.” Soon after medics arrived, Smith suffered cardiac arrest.

The next month, police confronted a man who had been scaring motel guests. After Steven Beasley resisted handcuffs, an officer threw him and his head struck a wall. Another shocked Beasley with a Taser while he was handcuffed face down, saying he was kicking and trying to bite. Officers put pressure on his back and head, at times joking as Beasley became unresponsive.

In November 2020, officers chatted for several minutes while Evan Terhune, hands cuffed behind his back and his face covered by a spit hood, banged his head in a police van while hallucinating on LSD. Police had shocked him with a Taser after Terhune became violent at a party and punched an officer.

When officers opened the van, he was unresponsive. The city agreed this year to pay Terhune’s parents $987,600 but required them to keep quiet.

Coroner doesn’t blame force

In all five deaths the AP examined, Vanderburgh County Coroner Steven Lockyear did not cite the actions of officers as causal or contributing factors. He ruled three were accidental, one was natural and one was undetermined.

Lockyear ruled that both Hacker and Smith died after suffering a sickle cell crisis, a condition in which exertion can cause red blood cells to become misshapen. Some experts have cast doubt on that as a realistic cause of death.

The coroner found Snukis died from methamphetamine intoxication, Terhune from self-inflicted head trauma, and that Beasley’s cause of death was undetermined. A former detective at the sheriff’s office, Lockyear said in an interview he had a great relationship with law enforcement and, “You can’t blame the police for everything.”

Investigators and prosecutors cited his rulings to close criminal inquiries into the deaths without filing charges.

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This story is part of the ongoing investigation “Lethal Restraint” led by The Associated Press in collaboration with the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism programs and FRONTLINE (PBS). The investigation includes an interactive story, database and the film “Documenting Police Use Of Force.”

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The Associated Press receives support from the Public Welfare Foundation for reporting focused on criminal justice. This story also was supported by Columbia University’s Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights in conjunction with Arnold Ventures. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Contact AP’s global investigative team at [email protected] or https://www.ap.org/tips