Encounter between Black teens and Indiana school official stirs outrage

On a Saturday in mid-August, three teenagers rode their bikes to the Beech Grove CVS Pharmacy on Main Street. The teens told their parents they wanted to buy candy — a bag of sweet and sour gummy worms one teen used his debit card to purchase.

Next they pedaled to Walgreens a block away on Albany Street. A white pickup soon parked outside.

Finding nothing they wanted to purchase, the teens walked past a Walgreens cashier and out the door. It was then they realized a man and a woman were watching them and snapping their photos with a cellphone.

The teenagers cut across the parking lot back toward CVS. Moments later, the same man and woman they'd seen at Walgreens arrived in the pickup. Its passenger pointed her phone at them once again. Another photo was snapped.

The teenagers biked away, but the encounter didn't end there.

Days later, the teens learned someone had accused them of stealing. Neither CVS nor Walgreens called police to report them for theft, but their photos landed on the desk of the superintendent of Beech Grove City Schools.

The teens are Black and the couple in the pickup are white.

That matters, their parents say, because the scenario reminds them of other instances around the country that have left Black teenagers injured or dead after being accused of crimes.

The culmination of the events came to a head publicly when all three of the teens' mothers stood up at the Beech Grove City Schools board meeting Sept. 12 to admonish the driver of the pickup — Rick Skirvin, who has served nearly 17 years on the school board, according to his political campaign website.

"A board member abused his power and reported the boys to the school for disciplinary action with no proof that they did anything wrong," said parent Kelly Herron, 44, of Beech Grove.

She and other parents have accused Skirvin also of following their children in his pickup with the intent to record them, a claim Skirvin flatly denies.

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Skirvin said he was 'passing on information' but didn't witness alleged theft

Skirvin has rejected accusations of wrongdoing and said the situation has become "a horrible stink over nothing." From his point of view, he was passing along information about an alleged theft in Walgreens. A petty crime, Skirvin says, he didn't witness.

Skirvin entered Walgreens on Aug. 12 to buy batteries. He spent five minutes shopping, he said, and was standing in line to pay at around 12:50 p.m. with his back toward the teens when they walked past him and exited the store.

"The lady behind the cash register told me they had taken some candy," Skirvin said, who turned around and observed one of the teenagers eating a piece of candy — he can't recall what kind.

Skirvin asked the cashier if she was prepared to say something to the teenagers or call the police.

The cashier declined to do either, he said, and so Skirvin decided to take matters into his own hands. Photos of the teenagers were submitted to the Beech Grove City Schools superintendent, he said, and to a student resource officer after his passenger realized they attended the local high school. IndyStar reached out to Walgreens but had not received a response at the time of publication.

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Skirvin next drove to CVS, he said, to buy a replacement battery for the remote control to his garage door opener. On the way there, he and his passenger saw the teenagers cutting through the parking lot and decided to snap one more picture.

"What I said (to the superintendent) was, 'A Walgreens associate said she had seen the boys take candy. Can we look into it and talk to them?'" Skirvin told IndyStar. "I felt that it was a minor crime and it wasn't big enough to get the police involved and have kids with criminal records. I just wanted them spoken to, so that they would know that the community is watching."

Parents were alerted to the photos and accusations of theft days later. Their children, they said, haven't been disciplined by the school as a result of the incident.

"This was unacceptable and unnecessary," Herron said of Skirvin's actions. "Our boys have now been introduced to what it feels like to be profiled and falsely accused"

Beech Grove parent: 'How many times does this go wrong?'

The parents are upset because their children were accused of a crime brought to light by a prominent member of the Beech Grove community without a scintilla of evidence.

Peter Lee, 55, a parent of one of the accused teens, is furious.

"How many times does this go wrong?" asked Lee. "Every time an accusation is made against African Americans, we're always guilty 'till proven innocent. America is going through a great bundle of hell because of the injustice it renders."

During September's school board meeting, the mothers of the three teens requested the district investigate, and that Skirvin resign from office, which Skirvin told IndyStar last week he has no plans of doing.

"This isn't right," said Carron Stephens, 56, the parent of one of the accused teenagers. "I don't want this to happen to someone else's child."

Skirvin: 'I am not what these parents say I am.'

Skirvin wasn't there in person to hear the mothers' complaints in September because he was in South Carolina on a business trip. He watched video of the school board meeting posted later to YouTube and disagreed with parents' claims that he racially profiled their children.

He was saddened further to learn people online have been calling him a racist.

"I was very disappointed," Skirvin said. "I've spent my entire adult life mentoring kids from every walk of life. I am not what these parents say I am."

The encounter has drawn scrutiny, especially on social media, because Skirvin is running on the Republican party ticket for Beech Grove mayor, a bid he lost in 2019 to Democrat incumbent Dennis Buckley by fewer than 70 votes. Skirvin touts his service as a former Marion County reserve sheriff's deputy, saying — if elected mayor — tackling crime will be his team's No. 1 goal.

Ten days after Skirvin submitted photos of the teens, the Beech Grove City Schools board held a private session to teach its members about their role as public officials. Skirvin was out of town and did not not attend.

School board president Jannis King said the executive session's agenda "had nothing to do with Mr. Skirvin" and the incident wasn't discussed.

During the most recent meeting of the board Tuesday, Stephens, Lee and two other parents of the teens addressed school officials and requested the board take action in response to their complaints.

In a message to IndyStar, Beech Grove City Schools superintendent Dr. Laura Hammack said the board cannot remove members but maintains the authority to censure, a formal statement of disapproval that carries with it no other penalties.

Skirvin, who was present for Tuesday's board meeting, issued no public statement about the incident and said he had no plans of doing so in the future.

Ten minutes after its regular meeting, the board spent about an hour in executive session, which is closed to the public. Neither its agenda nor what was discussed were shared with IndyStar.

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John Tufts covers evening breaking and trending news for the Indianapolis Star. Send him a news tip at JTufts@Gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Rick Skirvin of Beech Grove School board draws ire from Black parents