EXCLUSIVE: Pete Buttigieg Remained Silent as His Police Chief Lied About South Bend Officers Imitating Klansmen Jordan Chariton Follow Jan 2 · 6 min read

New documents obtained by Status Coup confirm that South Bend police chief Scott Ruszkowski, a close ally of presidential candidate and now former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, lied about a controversial December arrest in which South Bend cops were caught imitating Klansmen from the film “Django Unchained” while arresting a young black man.

As Status Coup first reported, during an arrest of 21-year-old black male Marko Mosgrove on December 18th, Mosgrove livestreamed his arrest (the original livestream was taken down on Facebook but a South Bend resident clipped it).

After realizing they were being taped, South Bend police officers turned around Mosgrove’s phone, resulting in the screen turning black but the audio left running. As the livestream ended, officers begin imitating Klansmen from the Quentin Tarantino film “Django Unchained.”

“I can’t see fu**king sh*t out of this thing!,” an officer says while laughing, mimicking the scene from the film where KKK members argue over their Klan hoods not fitting over their faces.

“I think we all agree that these were a nice idea,” the officer says, further imitating a Klansmen from the scene.

The controversial aspects of the arrest weren’t limited to the Klan imitation; a female officer could also be heard instructing male officers to “stop recording” their body cameras, an order which that was complied with.

The order to stop recording their body cameras comes while Buttigieg’s campaign has been under scrutiny for months following the June 2019 death of Eric Logan, a 54-year-old black man shot and killed by South Bend Police sergeant Ryan O’Neill. O’Neill’s body camera was off during the incident—as were two other officers that first arrived at the scene.

A week after the arrest of Mosgrove, leaked text messages obtained by Status Coup showed that on the evening of the arrest, chief Ruszkowski told Wayne Hubbard, a black resident and activist, that there were additional agencies and officers at the scene beyond South Bend police, insinuating that the officers imitating Klansmen may not have been from South Bend Police.

“Did you know it wasn’t just SB cops there,” Ruszkowski texted Hubbard. “I’ll find out who, but I know it wasn’t just South Bend cops.”

The police chief’s claim to Hubbard the night of the arrest didn’t add up: witnesses at the scene told Status Coup they only saw South Bend Police cruisers while the original arrest report listed South Bend Police as the arresting agency and South Bend police officer Devon Gilbert as the arresting officer.

And now Status Coup can confirm Ruszkowski misled Hubbard, and journalists. Through documents obtained by Status Coup via a public records request, it’s clear only South Bend police were involved with the arrest. In a document titled “Incident Brief Report,” only South Bend Police officers are listed under the dispatch section of the arrest report.

When confronted by Status Coup on Thursday, Ruszkowski backpedalled, responding that he never said law enforcement other than South Bend police were on scene during the arrest.

“Did you hear me say or read my private texts that said there were?” he said, complaining that Status Coup was “putting words to me that weren’t said or typed.”

But he did in fact write those words; when Status Coup read back to Ruszkowski the claims he made to Hubbard on the evening of the arrest, he acknowledged writing them—while then moving the goal posts.

“Fine, cherry-pick from the texts. Those were my words but cops were there for several hours. NOT just SB cops assure you. Regarding inside the house, only SB cops were inside. No civilians, no other agencies, only SB cops.”

In addition to changing his claim to try and differentiate between officers who were inside the house making the arrest versus outside the house, Ruszkowski pivoted which agencies were involved with targeting the suspect.

“Think about how we ended up there. Do you think SBPD tracked this dangerous person down all on our own?”

What the police chief told Status Coup after being confronted by his own police department’s records is inconsistent with what he texted Hubbard the night of the arrest (and Status Coup a week after). During those conversations, the Ruszkowski didn’t differentiate between officers who were outside the home the arrest occurred versus inside where the Klan imitation occurred. He clearly insinuated that the officers heard imitating KKK members from the film might not have been from South Bend police department.

Hubbard told Status Coup the police chief is lying and that his comments to him the night of the arrest were clearly insinuating the officers who imitated Klansmen weren’t from South Bend Police Department.

“He was trying to make it sound like his officers were not responsible,” Hubbard said.

On then-Mayor Buttigieg’s failure to comment, or take action, after officers in his city’s police department imitated Klansmen while arresting a black man, Hubbard told Status Coup: “He wouldn’t address any of it because it would only bring more issues to his campaign if he did. He was probably leaving it to Mueller [new South Bend Mayor James Mueller]. I hope he does better.”

Ruszkowski lying to Hubbard, and journalists, to muddy the waters over the arrest—and point the blame away from his South Bend officers—is part of a terrible pattern, one former South Bend Police Officer told Status Coup.

“Ruszkowski will do anything to cover up corruption,” former South Bend Police Officer Davin Hackett told Status Coup. “That’s who he is. I left Detroit and South Bend because of cover ups and corruption.”

The corruption got so bad, Hackett moved over to neighboring Elkhart. Mayor Buttigieg, Hackett said, ignored the corruption within his police department during his two terms.

Hackett stressed: “It’s only a select few that are corrupt and try to cover it up.”

In the immediate aftermath of the arrest of Mosgrove on December 18th, Buttigieg, who at the time was still the Mayor of South Bend, nor his campaign, have responded to Status Coup’s request for comment regarding the Klan reenactment.

Two days after the arrest, when the South Bend Tribune reported South Bend Police would open an investigation into the matter, Buttigieg remained silent. A week after the arrest, when the leaked text messages showed his police chief making falsehoods to activists and journalists, Buttigieg continued to ignore the controversy.

The family of Mosgrove, who remains in jail, has filed a complaint with the Internal Affairs division of South Bend Police Department. On the night of the arrest, Marko’s mother, Dialeshanailon Nailon, told Status Coup the officers imitation of Klansmen during her son’s arrest didn’t surprise her since they had a “history” of racism.

She also said the comments weren’t “fair or funny.”

“We’re supposed to be able to trust them and they’re here to serve and protect and that’s not what’s going on,” Nailon said.

As of January 1st, 2020, the current Democratic frontrunner in Iowa became former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. During his campaign, Buttigieg has been dogged by his record in South Bend related to the black community and policing.

While reporting in South Bend in December, Status Coup spoke with members of the black community who expressed dismay at the gentrification of South Bend under Buttigieg, which they believe targeted black residents.

On policing, Tyree Bonds, the brother of the late Eric Logan, told Status Coup that Mayor Buttigieg has “nothing to say” to his family after a South Bend police sergeant, whose body camera was off, killed his brother.

Buttigieg’s campaign did not respond to Status Coup’s request for comment regarding the documents that show his police chief lied about the details regarding the arrest.

Below are the documents obtained by Status Coup via public records request.

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