'Officer of the Year' caught on camera attacking 60-year-old man asking for help

Officer T. Michael Wilson is the focus of an internal affairs investigation after year-old security camera footage shows him throwing him a senior citizen to the ground

The victim, Brian Hudkins, was reporting a suspected burglary

Officer Wilson was awarded an 'Officer of the Year' award five months later

Bullied and bruised: Brian Hudkins, 60, was reporting a suspected burglary when Officer T. Michael Wilson threw him to the ground and arrested him instead, unprovoked

An 'Officer of the Year' for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is now under investigation after security footage was released showing him attacking a 60-year-old man who was just reporting a burglary.



Last September, victim Brian Hudkins was in town for a business conference. He was staying at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis with one of his employees, Andrew Davis.



After dinner, the two went back to the hotel, but Davis was locked out of his room. He heard people behind the door and called Hudkins, believing it was a burglary.



The two went downstairs to report the incident to hotel management and asked that they call the police.



Officer T. Michael Wilson responded to the call, and his exchange with the two men was recorded on hotel security camera footage obtained by WISH . After only 16 seconds speaking to the two men, Officer Wilson tackled Mr Hudkins to the ground.



Wilson wrote in his report that Mr Hudkins was told to 'quiet' down and refused. The officer said he 'attempted to push Mr Hudkins backwards and awa y from the situation' but the man 'forcibly' pushed backwards.



The surveillance footage shows quite a different story.

Mr Hudkins couldn't possibly push back as his hands were behind his back the entire time.



Officer Wilson not only pushes him to the ground once, but once arrested he pushes him to the ground again on the way out to the squad car.



As for Mr Davis, he began to take footage on his camera and Officer Wilson told him to get on the ground as well or else he would taze him.



Casual conversation: Officer T. Michael Wilson, left, speaks with Brian Hudkins (beige shirt) and Andrew Davis (blue shirt) about a suspected burglary in one of their rooms

Unprovoked: In his report, Officer Wilson said Mr Hudkins pushed him back - but the video shows the 60-year-old with his hands behind his back the entire time

On the ground: Officer Wilson pushes the man to the ground, to arrest him though even when he doesn't show resistance

Down again: Mr Hudkins is pushed to the ground again on the way to the squad car. He says it took him weeks to recover from the lacerations to his face

The two men spent the night in jail. Mr Hudkins missed most of the conference and it took him weeks to heal from he multiple lacerations on his face incurred in the attack.



Officer Wilson was named 'Community Policing Support Officer of the Year' five months later in May.



WISH showed the video to Police Chief Rick Hite, who said he had never seen the video before. The station later found out it was sent to the department five months ago.



Hite promised to immediately start an internal investigation into the incident and the officer's behavior.

'I'm nor denying what we saw or what we've seen but we have a policy and a process in which we adjudicate each and every investigation,' he said.

Since the incident, Hudkins has filed a lawsuit asking for $700,000 in damages.

