INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – An off-duty Indianapolis police officer fatally struck a pedestrian with his cruiser, and an investigator reported smelling alcohol on the officer’s breath, police said Friday.
The crash was reported at 11:54 p.m. Thursday on a street where, just four minutes earlier, a 911 caller had reported that a man wearing dark clothing was walking in traffic.
No immediate decisions have been made on criminal charges or disciplinary action against the officer, police spokesman Officer Christopher Wilburn said Friday.
The officer stopped after striking the man and got out to help him, performing chest compressions, but the victim was declared dead at the scene, police spokesman Lt. Richard Riddle said earlier Friday. The officer also notified authorities that he had struck a pedestrian.
Riddle said officers were already heading to the scene because of the report of a man – believed to be the victim – walking in the road near an Interstate 65 interchange on the city’s south side. Riddle said a police supervisor at the scene smelled the odor of alcohol on the officer’s breath.