Washington (CNN) Mayor Pete Buttigieg said during Thursday's Democratic presidential debate that the South Bend police force isn't diverse because "I couldn't get it done."

South Bend, Indiana, fell into chaos earlier this month after a white police officer shot an African American man during an altercation. Police have alleged that the man, Eric Jack Logan, was breaking into cars and was wielding a knife.

because the officer Buttigieg called the situation around the shooting a "mess" on Thursdaybecause the officer didn't have his body camera turned on.

"We are hurting. I could walk you through all of the things we have done as a community," he said at the debate. "All of the steps we took, from bias training to de-escalation, but it didn't save the life of Eric Logan. When I look into his mother's eyes, I have to face the fact that nothing that I say will bring him back."

The South Bend Police Department has lost African American officers nearly every year under Buttigieg, according to numbers released to CNN by the police department. When Buttigieg took office in January 2012, the department had 29 black officers on the force. That number was 15 in 2019, according to the numbers.

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