Deputy arrests woman after parking on store sidewalk during storm

The wind and rain of Sunday’s storm pushed at least one person into conduct that got her arrested, according to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report.

Rather than use a regular parking spot at an Eastside Kroger store, police said, a 35-year-old Indianapolis woman instead drove her vehicle onto the sidewalk in front of the store in the 7000 block of East 10th Street.

An off-duty deputy working security was standing within feet of the vehicle as the woman began getting out about 4:40 p.m., however, and ordered the woman to move it to the parking lot, police said.

The woman refused, police said, and instead yelled at the deputy that she would move her vehicle only after unloading her children.

As the woman walked around to the passenger side of her vehicle, the deputy identified himself as a police officer and repeated his order to move the vehicle.

The woman responded with a vulgar insult aimed at the officer, police said, but went back toward the driver’s side of her vehicle. At that point, the officer followed her and demanded to see the woman’s identification, police said.

The woman refused and tried to close her door, police said, at which point the deputy held it open and told the woman he would remove her from the vehicle if she refused to produce identification.

The woman told the deputy she did not believe he was a police officer and was calling 911, police said, and the deputy told her to feel free. The deputy also radioed for backup.

Other officers arrived at the scene, and the deputy — whose full-time job is with the Pike Township constable’s office — arrested the woman on preliminary charges of disorderly conduct and refusal to provide identification.

The report does not indicate what happened to the children after their mother was arrested.

Call Star reporter Bill McCleery at (317) 444-6083. Follow him on Twitter: @BillMcCleery01.