Two New Whiteland police officers were justified in firing shots that hospitalized a teen, the acting prosecutor said.
Christopher Speer and Craig Whited, both New Whiteland Police Department officers, were involved in a police-action shooting on Dec. 14 that left then-17-year-old Carter Kappel in critical condition at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health.
Prosecutors determined the officers were defending themselves and one another, and were well within their rights to fire their weapons, according to a report completed shortly after the incident by acting prosecutor Joe Villanueva. Body cameras did not capture the incident, and one officer was not in uniform.
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The officers shot the teen several times — one of them emptied his magazine and loaded a rifle before Kappel collapsed on the sidewalk. The teen had pointed a semi-automatic pistol at both of the officers outside his home in the Country Gate subdivision, according to the report from the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office.
Eight spent shell casings were found near where Whited was standing during the shooting, and four were found near Speer. Prosecutors believe it was Speer who struck Kappel, but it is unknown which particular shots made contact, Villanueva said.
“In this case, those specifics ultimately had no legal bearing on the end result as both officers acted within their rights under Indiana law,” Villanueva said in an email.
Body cameras were not used during the incident, Villanueva said.
Whited was at the station but in civilian clothing when the call came out, Villanueva said, which is why he was not wearing a body camera.
“He just ran out to assist and was not wearing a camera as he was not in uniform,” he said.
Speer said his body camera was faulty. He told investigators he thought he activated his body camera, but when the sheriff’s office tried to download the video, nothing had been recorded, Villanueva said.
Other findings in the prosecutor’s report include:
It was general knowledge among New Whiteland police that Kappel was a runaway who was on probation and had a lengthy criminal history;
The relative who called 911 advised police to park away from the house as to hide their presence;
When Speer first entered the house, the relative whispered for him to get his gun out;
Speer exited the house out of fear for his own safety before calling for backup;
When Whited arrived, he saw someone run from the house carrying a gun, but did not immediately know whether it was Kappel because he had not had any previous interactions with him;
The relative who called police confirmed that Kappel ignored multiple commands by Whited to drop his weapon before any shots were fired;
Once Kappel fell to the ground and officers approached him, they saw blood on his right arm and abdominal area, which indicated to them that he had been struck at least twice;
Neighbors, not police as initially reported, rendered aid to the teen until medics arrived.
Prosecutors determined earlier this year that both officers’ firing of their guns qualified as acts of self-defense — defense of themselves and one another, according to the prosecutor’s report.
Both Speer and Whited were in a place they had a right to be, neither provoked nor instigated the violence, they had reasonable fear of death or harm and did not use more force than necessary given the circumstances, the report said.
“A reasonable person in Whited’s situation and Speers’ situation, individually, would have felt his life and the life of his fellow officer was in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death under the circumstances,” the report said. “As such, each officer was individually within his legal rights to defend himself and the other from that danger.”
Kappel underwent surgery and survived, eventually being moved to Johnson County’s juvenile detention center. He has since been transferred to the Johnson County jail where he will continue to serve his sentence, Sheriff Duane Burgess said.
Kappel pleaded guilty earlier this month to three charges, including two felonies for pointing a firearm and resisting law enforcement with a deadly weapon, according to court documents.
Johnson Circuit Court Judge Andrew Roesener sentenced him to 545 days in jail. He received credit for about 193 days. The sentences will run concurrent, court documents said.
Speer and Whited were placed on leave for at least a week due to an investigation by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office into the police-action shooting, which is common practice following an incident of that nature. After police-action shootings in Johnson County, the prosecutor’s office also reviews the evidence to determine if police were justified in their actions.
Whited was back to work by Dec. 24, and Speer was back to work by Dec. 28, according to dispatch records. New Whiteland Police Chief Joe Rynerson has not commented on the matter since the shooting.
