The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1254479
The Press-Dispatch Local Wednesday, June 3, 2020 A- 5 Continued from page 1 REPORT SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY? Give us a call— 812-354-8500 CHILI FRIDAY Roast Beef Manhattan $ 8.99 Roast Beef Smothered in Gravy on Mashed Potatoes and Bread with Green Beans or Corn and Drink * Parmesan Baked Tilapia $ 8.99 Baked Potato, Bread and Drink * Stromboli $ 8.99 Our Own Special Stromboli Served with Grippos (Plain or BBQ), Side Salad and a Drink * CHEESY CHICKEN BROCCOLI Chicken and Dumplings $ 8.99 Plate of Chicken and Dumplings, Green Beans or Buttered Peas and Carrots, Baked Apples, Roll and a Drink * Philly Cheesesteak $ 8.99 Includes a Side and a Drink * WEDNESDAY Boneless Pork Chop $ 8.99 Tender Pork Loin Baked with Special Spices and Parmesan Cheese served with Baked Potato, Green Beans and a Drink * TUESDAY *Your Choice of Regular Coffee, Tea or Coke Product. Specials and menu items are subject to food availability from suppliers. /RandysAmericanaCafe Like us on Facebook! JUNE 3 – JUNE 9 HAM & BEANS WITH CORNBREAD Turkey Manhattan $ 8.99 Turkey Breast Smothered in Gravy on Mashed Potatoes and Bread with Green Beans and Drink * Polish Sausage $ 8.99 with Sauerkraut Served with Cornbread, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, and Drink * Cheeseburger $ 7.99 with Your Choice of Side and Drink * MONDAY CHILI Spaghetti $ 7.99 Cheesy Mozzarella Toast, Side Salad and Drink* Reuben $ 7.99 with Your Choice of Side and Drink * Cheeseburger & Chili $ 8.99 Cheeseburger with a Cup of Chili, Chips and Drink* Pancakes $ 7.99 Choice of Side and Drink* CHILI Biscuits and Gravy $ 7.99 With Your Choice of Bacon or Sausage, Two Eggs and Drink* SATURDAY SPECIALS Stromboli $ 8.99 Our Own Special Stromboli Served with Grippos (Plain or BBQ), Side Salad and a Drink * daily WE'RE OPEN for Dine-in and Carry-Out We've got lots of space and many rooms to spread out! THURSDAY CHEESY POTATO Ham Steak $ 8.99 Thick-Sliced Ham Served with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Green Beans or Buttered Peas and Carrots, Roll and a Drink * Meatloaf $ 8.99 Green Beans or Buttered Peas and Carrots, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Roll and Drink * Chicken Salad Sandwich $ 7.99 with Your Choice of Side and Drink * FRESH, MADE-FROM-SCRATCH CINNAMON ROLLS FRIDAY MORNING free PERFECT PINT CLEAR TUMBLER with $20 purchase on Saturday FRESH, MADE-FROM-SCRATCH CINNAMON ROLLS SATURDAY MORNING Mon-Fri 7am-8pm Saturday 7am-2pm 812-354-2004 Formerly Cakes & Coffee Cato bridge work should be complete by end of June Bridge resurfacing in Cato began this Monday and is expected to take all month. Deig Brothers of Evansville will be working on two small bridges in Cato on SR 56. SR 56 will be closed around the clock, according to INDOT, but local traffic will have access up to the point of closure. Through traffic will need to use the official detour, which is SR 56, SR 57 and SR 356 on the first bridge. CR 500 E. to CR 175 N. to CR 650 E. is an alternative for the bridge nearest the Winslow-Cato Road (CR 475 E.). Proj- ect foreman Gene Morgan, of Francisco, said "We will hopefully be complete by the end of June." James Capozella photo told central dispatch he and his wife Paula were starving and people were shooting at them. Deputy Collier and Pe- tersburg Police Cpl. Kyle Mills responded for a wel- fare check. Cpl. Mills was wearing a body camera and had it on during the inci- dent. A professional Court Reporter was hired to tran- scribe the body camera re- cording. According to the report certain views were obstructed because at times. Mills was behind Col- lier, who is considerably tall- er than Mills. Deputy Collier was not wearing a body camera. The report says Col- lier and Mills arrived at the one-story house and went to a screened-in front porch which leads to the front door. Collier went up on the screened-in porch to the front door. Paula Faries, Michael's wife, answered the door. Collier told her he needed to make contact with Faries since he was the one who had called 911. It al- so states Collier had been to the Faries residence several times and each time Faries had a gun. Collier asked Paula if her husband had a gun and she said, "Yes." According to the report, when Collier said he need- ed to talk to Faries, Pau- la opened the door and let their dogs out and Collier re- mained on the porch hold- ing the screen door. Mills' body camera, ac- cording to the report, picks up Faries shouting. At one point Cpl. Mills walks away from the door. Mills said in an interview he walked away because he thought Faries was coming out of the house to talk to them. The following is a tran- script of the conversa- tion between Deputy Col- lier, Cpl. Mills and Michael Faries. Collier: Hi, Michael. Can you come talk to us? Mills: Hi. Faries: You get back and I will. Collier: All right. You want to come outside? Faries: Yeah. Collier: All right. We'll just walk off, man. Faries: You want to walk (inaudible). I want you to do something about them. Collier: About who, your neighbors? Faries: Yes. Collier: We were just over there. Faries: Yeah, that's what—you know why I called the police? Collier: Yes Faries (inaudible) Collier: We did go over there, okay? Faries: It is not okay. (At this point the video footage shows Collier walk into the doorway of the res- idence, as Officer Mills re- approaches the porch.) Collier: Do you have a gun on you or anything? Do you have a gun on you or anything? Faries: Yeah, don't make me do it. Don't make me do it. ( Video shows Cpl. Mills is on the porch behind Collier at this point) Collier Put—get your hands out of your pocket, now. Get your hands out." (SHOTS FIRED) Faries: (inaudible) Collier: Dispatch, 33. Shots fired. Shots fired. The report states two shots were fired, both by Collier. No shots from Faries or Mills. The report states both Collier and Mills go into the house where Faries is on the floor bleeding. A medium frame, black revolver was recovered near Faries. Mills runs to his vehicle to get a medical kit for Faries. Collier remains inside with Paula and they apply pres- sure to Faries' wounds, one in his chest and the other un- der his armpit. EMS is dispatched while Collier and Mills continue to perform CPR "to the point of exhaustion that requires them to take turns as they wait for EMS to arrive. Eventually, "Faries suc- cumbs to his wounds and resuscitation efforts are or- dered to cease per a medical profession over the phone. The Indiana State Police conducted an investigation and obtained a search war- rant for Faries' residence. Deputy Prosecutor Chris- tianson, in the report, cited several points to back up her conclusion that Collier's ac- tions on May 3 were justified under Indiana law. • Deputy Collier had rea- sonable belief that Michael Faries was armed and an imminent threat of serious bodily injury. Christianson cited Paula had told police Faries had a gun. Faries, when asked if he had a gun said, "Yeah, don't make me do it. Don't make me do it." Collier, when interviewed by Indiana State Police about the shooting, said while he was ordering Faries to show his hands, Faries pulled the revolver from his pants pock- et. The report states that af- ter Faries was shot, the gun was in or near Faries' hand. It states Collier picked up the gun and placed it on a table, where EMS found it when they arrived According to the report, Collier moved the gun while Cpl. Mills was running to his car to get the medical kit, so there is no body camera vid- eo of the gun being moved. However, when Mills re- turns there is video of Col- lier showing Mills where he put the gun on the table. Christianson also cit- ed that Deputy Collier had been to Faries' house mul- tiple times and each time Faries was in possession of a gun, including on March 30 when they found Faries unconscious with a gun in his hand and were able to remove it. • The body camera foot- age and independently transcribed audio confirm Faries, would not show Dep- uty Collier his hands, cor- roborating Deputy Collier's statement. Christianson backs the point up with the points that Collier, when speaking with Faries was talking to him in a calm and casual manner. "The situation escalates only after Michael admits to Col- lier that he had a gun and then repeats, "Don't make me do it." The body camera vid- eo shows Collier ordering Faries to, "Put—get your hands out of your pocket now. Get your hands out." However, it states because Cpl. Mills was behind Collier so there was no clear view of Faries. It also states the only time Collier's voice is raised is when he is ordering Faries to get his hands out of his pockets. • Deputy Collier justifi- ably entered the home to speak with Michael Faries. According to the report on May 3, Faries called 911 and disconnected after talk- ing with them. His wife Pau- la also talked to dispatch and requested the officers be called off before they ar- rived and told them he was "wound up and angry" but officers didn't need to come to their residence. However, in the background Michael continues to yell about vig- ilantes and being harassed and at one point said, "We need help." She added, "Given the na- ture of the call, being able to visibly assess Mr. Faries was important to determine what, if any, assistance he needed from officers," stat- ed Christianson. The report also states there is audio of Faries yelling inside and Collier remarking that Faries is "freaking out, "before tell- ing Paula he needs to speak with Faries. It continued that Paula opened the door to let Collier in the house and when Faries tells him to get back, Collier responded calmly, "All right. You want to come outside." Body camera footage shows Mills walking away thinking Faries was coming out of the house. Christianson also states in the report: Deputy Collier's position in the home was ap- propriate as he was respond- ing to conversation from Mi- chael Faries, who remained inside the home as he spoke to Deputy Collier. Christian- son summed up the report stating: "Given the totality of the circumstances, which were provided through body camera footage and audio; and interview of EMS, Paula Faries, Deputy Collier, and Officer Mills, it is clear that Deputy Paul Collier did not intend or want to shoot Mi- chael Faries, and only did so in protection of himself, Of- ficer Mills and Paula Faries. His lack of malicious intent is evidenced through body camera footage that record- ed Deputy Collier and Offi- cer Mills vigorously work- ing to stabilize and make safe Michael Faries." Much of the last page of the report criticizes early re- leases of information about the shooting. "Unfortunately, due to the premature release of unvetted information, ill-in- formed speculation has infil- trated the public view on this tragic event. As information was being released, the pub- lic had taken those bits and fit them into a preconceived narrative that was spit out as factual. These headlines were then used to argue and speculate what should or could have been without any understanding or per- son knowledge of the events of that day," It also stated: "The death of Michael Faries is devas- tating and should not be- come a vessel for those to second-guess law enforce- ment without having first looked at all the informa- tion available. The notion that Deputy Collier should respond with something less than a gun is patent- ly unreasonable. Routinely, officers find themselves in circumstances where they must make split-second de- cisions. In these high stress occasions they do not have the luxury to be perfect, but must act reasonably. In this case Deputy Collier did act reasonably." Pike County Prosecutor Darin McDonald authored a letter to the Indiana Pros- ecuting Attorney Council about the an online publica- tion in Dubois County citing a State Police news release. McDonald, in the letter, stated that they had only been able to obtain very pre- liminary information about the shooting on Sunday af- ternoon. While he was at the courthouse on Sunday night, he was notified by his Chief Deputy Christianson of an online publication that had a news release from the Indiana State Police. McDonald's letter states in italics, quoting the State Police news release: Po- lice said that within sec- onds after the officer en- tered the residence, a Pike County Sheriff's Deputy discharged his firearm and struck Faries. . ." His letter continues, "I was concerned about this article because it was writ- ten in such a way to suggest wrongdoing on the part of the Deputy. I called Det. Chandler and suggested that if the ISP information director, Sgt. Todd Ringle needs to release information because of demand from me- dia, that the written affida- vits of probable cause and accompanying search war- rant, filed as public records, were an appropriate means to provide factual informa- tion." McDonald also com- plained about a subsequent release following Deputy Collier's and Cpl. Mills' in- terviews which were posted online by the State Police. He closed the letter stat- ing: I need IPAC's help to reach the Indiana State Po- lice Superintendent's office, because I need to ensure that the next time I have a major investigation that this doesn't happen. Any assis- tance that you could give me to prevent this from happen- ing again is greatly appreci- ated."