COLUMBUS, Ind. — A 14-year veteran of the Columbus Police Department is being suspended without pay after he was accused of felony battery and official misconduct charges involving a suspect in his custody.
Officer John Velten was arrested last week on these charges. The Columbus Board of Public Works and Safety approved CPD Chief Mike Richardson’s request Tuesday to suspend Velten without pay, “pending the outcome of the criminal (case) proceedings.”
Richardson said that it is unclear how long those proceedings will last, especially as courts may be “backed up” due to the pandemic. Prior to this, Richardson officially suspended Velten for 40 hours following his arrest.
According to a news release from the Indiana State Police, the CPD requested an investigation in June, after Velten allegedly struck a suspect while the man was handcuffed in the back of the officer’s patrol car. The ISP Versailles Post handled the investigation.
According to ISP, the incident occurred June 16 on Indiana Avenue. The only incident corresponding with that date and location that is listed in police reports involves the arrest of John Robert Keith DeMerit, 40, of 1951 McKinley Ave.
CPD officer Jackson Shepherd, who arrested DeMerit alongside Velten, stated in his probable cause affidavit that after they maneuvered DeMerit into Velten’s patrol vehicle, the man slammed his head against the door and window multiple times. Shepherd wrote that Velten then “took action to keep (DeMerit) from further injuring himself.”
“I then began walking to the driver’s side of the vehicle to assist Officer Velten while he attempted to keep the suspect from hitting his head against the door,” Shepherd stated. “I opened the rear passenger side door of the vehicle and held the suspect’s upper body against the seat, so he could not further injure himself. I observed the suspect’s lower legs kicking in the direction of Officer Velten. I then observed Officer Velten react to the kick in an attempt to stop it.”
However, ISP’s news release states that the suspect began hitting his head against the inside of the police car, and Velten responded by striking the still-handcuffed suspect with his fist, causing moderate injuries, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
