Lawrence County prosecutor says police shooting of Bedford man was justified
Four months after three Bedford Police officers fatally shot a Bedford man who accelerated his car toward an officer on foot, Lawrence County Prosecutor Samuel Arp II said he determined the officers’ actions were justified “in the preservation of life.”
Arp said in a statement posted to Facebook on Dec. 28 that he had responded to the scene on Sept. 28, the night Daymon Hubbard died, and contacted the Indiana State Police (ISP) to conduct an investigation.
In making his decision, Arp said he reviewed an 86-page police report from the ISP, and examined body camera footage, toxicology reports, photographs from the scene, previous incident reports related to the residence, and post-incident interviews with the officers involved. The Herald-Times has requested the ISP report.
Daymon Hubbard, 47, died Sept. 28, after Daymon’s mother and brother went to the Bedford Police Department. According to Arp's statement, Sondra Hubbard said Daymon had entered her residence that evening and threatened her, saying “if she ever went to the police that he would kill her.”
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Arp said within the past two years, Bedford police had responded to several complaints from Sondra Hubbard about her son, including threats of violence, suicide and possession of illegal narcotics. Daymon’s brother, Shayne Hubbard, told officers at the station that they, “better find Daymond before he does,” according to the statement.
Arp’s statement repeatedly misspelled Daymon Hubbard’s name, referring to him as “Daymond Hubbard.”
A post made to Kin Hubbard’s Facebook account – Daymon Hubbard’s brother – on Oct. 3 says Sondra Hubbard had gone to Bedford police that evening to ask the police to help “contain Daymon during his schizophrenic episode.”
Officers then accompanied Sondra Hubbard to her residence to help safely remove her husband from the residence. When officers arrived, Daymon Hubbard was driving through the backyard. Arp's statement says officers initiated contact with Hubbard and attempted to have him exit his vehicle; he refused and reportedly became “verbally combative.”
The post to Kin Hubbard’s account says, “Daymon was unarmed, terrified and definitely confused about what was happening.”
According to the statement, Hubbard then fled the area in his vehicle. The statement says when officers tried to pin Hubbard’s vehicle in using their patrol vehicles, Hubbard placed his vehicle in reverse, striking a police car. Hubbard then turned and accelerated forward toward an officer who was on foot. The statement says that's when the officers shot Hubbard and his vehicle. Officers then requested medical attention for Hubbard, who was driven in an ambulance to IU Health Bedford Hospital, where he died later that night.
Arp’s statement says toxicology reports from blood taken at the time of Hubbard’s death showed a blood alcohol level of .097% and “indicated the presence of amphetamine.”
Arp said in his statement that he had determined the officers’ actions were justified “in the preservation of life,” and said he was releasing all evidence collected back to the control of ISP, which “may dispose of it in accordance with state law.”
Members of Hubbard’s family could not be reached. According to an obituary published online by Day & Carter Mortuary in Bedford, Hubbard is survived by his three children, his parents, David and Sondra Hubbard, and his three siblings.
Reach Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Lawrence County prosecutor says police shooting of Bedford man justified
