A Democratic candidate for a competitive Indiana State Senate seat was arrested on drug and resisting law enforcement charges while canvassing a Fishers neighborhood on the evening of April 26, according to court records.
Andrew Dezelan, the former policy director for the Indiana Senate Democratic Caucus, is facing three other Democratic candidates in the May 5 primary election for the Senate District 31 seat.
With early voting already underway, Dezelan is now also facing charges of possession of cocaine and resisting law enforcement.
Neither Dezelan, nor an attorney listed as his representative in online court records, immediately returned a request for comment from IndyStar for this article.
Dezelan previously told IndyStar he wanted to take on affordability issues with childcare and housing if elected. He also talked about legalizing marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes so the state could collect more tax dollars to mitigate affordability issues.
He is running in a district, which includes Fishers and Lawrence, that’s been held by a Republican for at least three decades but there’s a consensus among local party leaders that the general election will be a close race.
Dezelan is facing fellow Democrats Marion County Sheriff Kerry Forestal, veteran Lasima Packett and realtor and campaign manager Catherine Torzewski in the primary election.
Dezelan was arrested by a Fishers police officer while canvassing in a neighborhood around 8 p.m. on April 26. A man called the police with a complaint of a person soliciting as Dezelan was going door to door in the neighborhood, according to the probable cause affidavit for Dezelan’s arrest.
The officer found Dezelan sitting in his car that was parked at the neighborhood clubhouse. Dezelan did not answer the officer’s question when asked to explain the difference between canvassing and soliciting but said he had been given permission to go around the neighborhood by a member of the neighborhood homeowners’ association, reads the affidavit Dezelan’s arrest.
“I noticed Mr. Dezelan had been speaking quickly, making very quick, nervous, and unorganized movements, he was visibly sweating,” the affidavit for the state Senate candidate’s arrest reads. “All of which are typical signs of someone who is under the influence of a narcotic.”
The officer asked for Dezelan’s ID and he began frantically looking around his car before saying he needed to leave. The officer told the state Senate candidate he was detained and needed to provide his ID, according to the affidavit for Dezelan’s arrest.
Dezelan then started to reverse his car and dig into his pockets. The officer told Dezelan to stop and exit the car then the officer opened the car door and pulled Dezelan out. The state Senate candidate then tried stepping away as the officer tried to handcuff him and resisted until he was on the ground with the officer on his back, according to the affidavit.
Dezelan was handcuffed and his car was searched. The officer found a “small, clear plastic Ziploc baggie containing white powder” that tested positive for cocaine via a narcotics field test, the affidavit reads.
Dezelan has yet to publicly address the arrest.
In what could be a scheduled post, Dezelan counted down the days and hours to Election Day and held up campaign material in a photo. The post went live at 8:12 p.m., which would have been about 15 minutes after the Fishers police officer was first dispatched to the neighborhood.
“Cutting turf and pounding pavement until they tell me to stop,” Dezelan captioned the post on Facebook. “Got a new bag of tricks with me for this last stretch.”
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @Jake_Allen19. Click here to get Hamilton County news sent straight to your inbox and subscribe to the IndyStar North newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana state Senate candidate arrested on drug charge while canvassing
Reporting by Jake Allen, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
