IMPD chief organizes concerted effort to nab criminals
8.28.11

WTHR

INDIANAPOLIS - Police launched a concentrated effort to stop crime in the city.

In the past week, IMPD detectives have investigated at least seven homicides. Chief Paul Ciesielski put together a team of 30 officers to hit crime hot spots. Eyewitness News was riding along with police Friday night as an officer was shot.

"This is our city, this is our streets and we are taking them back right now," said Ciesielski.

The group of officers was hand-picked by the chief to roust out the bad guys.

"There are certain neighborhoods we are going to hit in 90 minute increments," said Officer Robert Wendling.

It didn't take long for the officers to find their targets. Wendling, a 13-year veteran, and his street partner, Officer Sage, stopped and questioned the driver of an SUV after he made a suspicious lane change.

The officers asked the driver to spell his middle name, but he couldn't. The only identification he had wasn't his. The man was handcuffed and questioned for 20 more minutes about his identity.

"I swear, I don't have no warrant or nothing," the man said.

"You are Josiah. Why does Josiah's ID say he is six feet tall?" the officer asked.

The driver, according to police records, is a habitual traffic offender. Getting caught driving is a felony offense for him, so he was taken to jail and his family drove the truck home.

Right down the street, police had pulled over another car after running the license plates. The owner of the car has an arrest warrant from another county. The tension among the officer and driver when the driver put his hand in his pocket. The officer drew his gun.

The driver was headed for jail.

"The guy just wasn't thinking. He went to get something out of his pocket and when he is being taken out of the car," said Wendling.

Just as that arrest was wrapping up, the tension hit a new peak.

"I don't know if it is true, but I just heard on the radio that maybe an officer was shot at Michigan and Tibbs," Wendling said. "This is not your average Friday night, guys."

An officer was shot and the suspect was on the loose. It was all hands on deck.

"Obviously, you do everything you can to get over there. You take it a little personal, to say it lightly," Wendling said.

The officer that was shot, Dustin Carmack, had just broken up a fight and was doing paperwork when he was struck by a bullet fired from the shadows. The very same thing Officer Wendling and his partner had been doing at the same time on a different side of town.

http://www.wthr.com/story/15349154/impd-chief-organizes-concerted-effort-to-nab-criminals