Couple gets $370K in excessive force claim

Jill Disis | The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — A man and woman who claimed an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department reserve officer unjustifiably fired at their car early on New Year’s Day 2014 have settled a federal lawsuit with the city and the officer for $370,000, their attorney said Tuesday evening.

Luke Woodworth, who was 19 when the shooting happened, filed the civil rights case in federal court a year ago. He and co-plaintiff Samantha Wills, who was 17 at the time, claimed reserve officer Michael Krebs fired a gun at them when they accidentally pulled into his driveway.

According to the complaint, Woodworth and Wills got lost on their way to a New Year party and parked near Krebs’ house on the Southeastside instead of going to the correct house.

When the two arrived on Krebs’ doorstep, documents say they knocked on the door but got no response. Realizing they were at the wrong house, they went back to their car and pulled into Krebs’ driveway to check a phone for directions.

Court documents allege Krebs approached the couple as they were parked in his driveway. The complaint claims that Krebs pointed a gun at Woodworth and shouted, “give me your ID,” but did not identify himself as a police officer.

“Thinking that he was about to be robbed or shot,” the complaint says, “... Mr. Woodworth immediately put the car into reverse and quickly backed out of the driveway.”

That’s when court documents claim Krebs fired his gun at the car seven times. While Woodworth and Wills were not hit by any bullets, the complaint says several of the shots damaged their car, and two bullets entered the car’s interior.

The account contrasted sharply with the one Krebs gave at the time of the incident. Police told The Indianapolis Star shortly after the shooting happened that Krebs grabbed his service handgun after his wife looked out the window and saw two people “fidgeting with the front door.”

Police said Krebs identified himself and ordered the people inside the car to do the same, but they did not respond. That is when, police said, the driver put his car in reverse and hit Krebs, leading him to fire his weapon.

Police told The Star at the time that Krebs was slightly hurt but didn’t require medical care. The Woodworth and Wills complaint says Woodworth did not hit Krebs, and that Krebs “sustained no injuries.”

Police questioned those involved after the parents of Woodworth and Wills told the two to call police.

Woodworth was arrested and charged with criminal recklessness, the complaint says, based on Krebs’ report. But the case against Woodworth was ultimately dismissed.

“It’s just another important case that helps give incentives to the city to make sure they recruit the right officers and train them correctly so we don’t have these kind of incidents in the future,” said Woodworth’s attorney, Richard Waples. Luckily, he said, “it didn’t end up worse than it did.”

Krebs is no longer a reserve officer, said IMPD spokesman Lt. Rick Riddle. Riddle said Krebs works at IMPD as a public assistance officer taking phone-in reports, a position he has held since before the incident with Woodworth and Wills.

IMPD spokesman Christopher Wilburn said Tuesday evening the department had no comment on the case and instead referred a reporter to the city's Office of Corporation Counsel. Amanda Dinges, the city’s chief litigation counsel, also declined to comment.

The resolution in the Woodworth and Wills case comes several months after another federal lawsuit settlement involving IMPD. In April, the city settled a wrongful arrest and imprisonment case for $650,000, the largest amount in such a case in recent city history.

In that case, Carlos Starks alleged a detective made false and misleading statements to pursue a murder warrant for his arrest.