IMPD
officer charged with battery
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - An IMPD officer has been arrested on
charges of battery and intimidation after investigators said he attacked a
driver last month.
According to court
documents, a man reported that a man who claimed to be a police officer had hit
him in the face on May 5 as he sat in an SUV in an alley near Holmes Avenue and
Addison Street, on the southwest side of Indianapolis.
Martin Bernardino
told police he was in the area looking for someone when he was approached by
first one man, then another. The probable cause affidavit says the second man
identified himself as a police officer, though he was not in uniform,
Bernardino told police, and demanded to see the driver’s license. Bernardino
told police that when he did not comply and asked what he had done wrong, the
man claiming to be an officer hit him in the face and told him to leave the area,
which Bernardino did.
He and his passenger
went to a nearby home, where a family member called 911. A police report was
taken, and the man was taken via ambulance to Wishard Memorial Hospital for
treatment of a broken nose.
A family member made
further inquiries, and was told a police officer by the name of Tom lived in
the area. The victim then made a complaint to the Citizens Complaint Office,
and was referred to the Special Investigations Unit. Investigators there were
engaged in the case May 8.
Upon further
investigation, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers determined
Officer Thomas Bordenkecher lived nearby where the incident allegedly occurred.
When shown several photos, the victim picked Bordenkecher’s out as his
attacker, according to court documents.
He was arrested
Thursday and was released on his own recognizance.
When asked what he
thought about the arrest Friday, Bernardino said he was "a little
nervous."
Bordenkecher has been
with IMPD since April 1991 and is currently on administrative leave pending the
outcome of the legal proceedings, IMPD said.