Indicted IMPD officers plead not guilty for 2022 shooting of man in grandmother’s driveway

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — Two IMPD officers pleaded not guilty Monday morning for their alleged roles in the Dec. 31, 2022, shooting of Anthony Maclin in his grandmother’s driveway.

Officers Carl Chandler and Alexander Gregory had their initial hearings at the Marion Superior Court at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 2.

Chandler and Gregory were booked into the Marion County Sheriff’s Office with bonds set at $3,000 cash.

Both officers were ordered to not have contact with Maclin’s family, and they are also not allowed to have firearms or deadly weapons.

Chandler and Gregory have been indicted on two counts of aggravated battery, battery with a deadly weapon, battery resulting in serious bodily injury, criminal recklessness and battery resulting in moderate bodily injury.

Chandler and Gregory’s jury trial is tentatively scheduled for Monday, Dec. 18 at 8:30 a.m.

Maclin, grandmother file federal lawsuit

Maclin and his grandmother have filed a federal lawsuit for damages against the officers, IMPD Police Chief Randal Taylor and city of Indianapolis.

The lawsuit lists the following injuries Maclin suffered: gunshot wound to the right chest, a gunshot wound to the right shoulder, two gunshot wounds to the left elbow, a right collapsed lung, liver injury, kidney injury, fracture of a vertebral body with the bullet remaining 1 mm from Anthony’s spine, a contusion to the right upper lobe of his lung, a right diaphragmatic injury requiring surgical repair and a fracture of the humeral medial epicondyle.

According to the lawsuit, Maclin has incurred $929,079.52 in medical bills.

“There was many ways to wake someone up in a car, and that was not one of them,” Maclin said during a press conference Monday. “I’m doing a lot better, thanks to God, as this whole process has been nothing but Him.”

Through the lawsuit, Maclin and Driver are seeking damages for violating Maclin’s rights, punitive damages, attorney fees, damages for personal injuries and severe emotional distress caused to Maclin, damages for emotional distress for Driver, and other relief that is just.

“So many things could have happened to prevent us from being here today. It tears me up every day because I see a young man, which happens to be my grandson, struggle,” Driver said. “Every day when he puts on his clothes, he’s looking at scars. When he moves his hand, he’s feeling the pain. When he shifts back and forth, it’s a good possibility that the bullets that are still in there can move. All of this could have been prevented.”

According to the lawsuit, Maclin and Driver are demanding a jury trial in the matter.

Dec. 31, 2022, incident

Maclin, 24, fell asleep in a car outside of his grandmother’s home in the 3600 block of North Oxford Street, near North Keystone Avenue and East 38th Street on the city’s near northeast side.

Driver called 911 around 4 a.m., saying a black car was in her driveway, but she didn’t want to go out to see who was inside.

“I don’t know if it’s one of my kids — I don’t know,” Driver said during the 911 call.

When officers arrived, Maclin was asleep, and they point out he has a gun in his lap. Video shows an officer try to open the doors to the car, but it’s locked. According to the critical incident video, officers waited around three minutes before knocking on the passenger side window.

When Maclin woke up and started to move, officers started shooting.

Click here to watch the bodycam video. WARNING: The video is graphic in nature and may be disturbing for some audiences.

Video shows the officers yelling “police!” and “hands up!” over each other. Less than five seconds later, they start firing shots. The shooting lasts for approximately seven seconds.

Maclin’s grandmother can then be heard in the background, shouting, “That’s my grandson!”

Officers shout at Maclin to get on the ground as his grandmother continues to tell them it’s her grandson. After Maclin is out of the car, officers put handcuffs on him, and he can be heard saying, “You gotta get me up...you gotta help me.”

In the video, IMPD claims Maclin reached toward the passenger seat before they started shooting. While officers can be heard acknowledging the gun in Maclin’s lap when they first arrived, IMPD claims “none of the cameras provided a clear view of the position of the gun after the man woke up and moved his arm.”

According to the lawsuit, Maclin never grabbed the gun that was on his lap. The lawsuit also claims officers never told Maclin to “drop the gun,” or other words to that effect, failing to attempt to use de-escalation techniques or other methods to verify who Maclin was to his grandmother.

While officers are providing aid, Maclin explains he didn’t call his grandmother because he didn’t want to wake her up.

IMPD previously identified the officers as four-year veteran Lucas Riley, three-year veteran Gregory and six-year veteran Chandler. 13News would like to point out that Riley was not indicted.

The lawsuit claims Riley fired one shot, while Chandler and Gregory continued firing for seven seconds, emptying their magazines, firing more than 30 shots.

Police said they recovered a 9mm handgun from the front seat. Maclin was never arrested.

According to Maclin’s attorneys, the officers fired at least 30 shots, hitting Maclin three times.

Maclin was hospitalized for 18 days and underwent six surgeries.

Maclin’s attorneys claim he never had the gun in his hand.

“Anthony is not accused of committing any crime. He was not drunk or high on drugs. While Anthony had a firearm in the car—and a license to carry the firearm—he never reached for the gun,” attorney Stephen Wagner said.