The body-worn camera footage from an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police sergeant has been released following the arrest and dismissal of charges against an 18-year-old.
On April 12, Sgt. Robyn Frazier accused Dailen Brewer of pointing a firearm at her during an interaction at Riverside Park.
The newly released body-camera footage never shows Brewer pointing a gun at the officer, though his hands are not always visible in the nearly six-minute video.
Following Frazier’s accusation, Brewer was arrested and booked on preliminary charges of attempted murder, intimidating an officer, resisting law enforcement where a weapon is drawn and two counts of pointing a firearm.
Those charges were dropped to one count of pointing a firearm, but the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the entire case due to “evidentiary problems,” citing that Frazier’s body-worn cam footage did not match the allegations in a probable cause affidavit she signed.
“I know this incident has prompted concern, frustration, and a range of reactions across our community,” Chief Tanya Terry said in a May 1 statement following the video’s release. “I hear those concerns and take them seriously. Our goal in releasing this footage is to provide additional context, while acknowledging that video alone cannot answer every question or fully capture the totality of the situation.”
Terry said that while the situation has “undoubtedly affected those involved, I am grateful that neither our officer nor the individual involved was physically harmed. The department remains committed to transparency, accountability, and continued engagement with the Indianapolis community,” Terry concluded.
“Body-worn cameras, while valuable tools, only capture a portion of an officer’s field of view and do not capture everything experienced by an officer,” an unnamed member of IMPD’s Public Affairs Office said in an April 17 statement to IndyStar following the dismissal of the case.
Around 6:30 p.m. April 12, Northwest District Officers had the entrance to the park barricaded. Police told IndyStar that traffic was being diverted from entering the park because it had become congested with traffic, which could keep emergency vehicles from reaching Riverside Park and the adjacent neighborhood if needed.
Brewer drove his red Honda HR-V through the park’s exit before parking. Both he and a friend were inside the vehicle with firearms.
Here’s what the body-worn camera footage shows
When the video begins, Frazier is standing next to her patrol car. She’s talking with another officer, who’s also standing next to her own car. A red sedan drives behind them.
“Hey!” Frazier calls after the car.
“Go get it, go get it,” the other officer says.
Frazier gets in her cruiser and follows the red car. About 30 seconds later, she stops her car perpendicular to the red car, which is now parked.
Loud music comes from the car.
“You need to leave the park,” Frazier says as she approaches Brewer’s half-open window. “Move your hands, now. OK? Open the door. Open the door right now. Don’t move your hands.”
Brewer moves something into the backseat of his car before Frazier can be seen in the reflection opening the driver’s side door.
Brewer’s and his passenger’s hands are up when Frazier opens the door. She radios for backup.
Brewer moves his left arm across his body just before Frazier’s hand, which is pointing her duty weapon, comes into the frame. His hands go back in the air.
“Don’t move,” Frazier says. “Don’t move. Do not f—ing move.”
Her gun remains pointed at both the driver and the passenger, whose hands remain in the air. Both appear to have firearms tucked between their legs.
Backup arrives. Frazier’s body is angled away from Brewer when he leaves the car, so it’s unclear which officer removed him. Frazier’s gun remains pointed at Brewer’s back until a male officer handcuffs him.
“Do you have a weapon on you?” the male officer asks.
“Yes, he did,” Frazier responds.
“Did, but not anymore?” the officer asks.
No response can be heard. Several more officers have by now arrived at the scene. Frazier approaches the colleague she’d been standing with in the parking lot a couple of minutes earlier.
“He had it pointed up at me,” Frazier tells her.
“OK. Are you OK? Are you OK?” her colleague asks. “Take a breath. Take a breath.”
The colleague walks Frazier away from Brewer’s car and tells her again to take a breath.
“Because I was like, ‘what are you doing?’ And I lean forward, and I could see it,” Frazier says. Her colleague continues to encourage deep breaths.
“He has it all on video so I can take his phone as evidence,” Frazier says.
An officer says that he removed the passenger’s firearm and put it in a colleague’s backseat. Another clarifies that the driver’s gun has been confiscated, too.
“I’m pretty positive that he tried to-” Frazier begins.
“You’re all good,” another officer responds.
Brewer, still handcuffed, is now standing behind Frazier’s patrol car.
Colleagues ask Frazier if she’s OK, and she says she is.
“I’m 100% sure, the gun didn’t go off. I don’t know what he – When he leaned forward, and I was like, ‘what are you doing,’ and I went like that, all I could see was the muzzle,” Frazier says.
Frazier walks away with a colleague and climbs into the passenger’s side of his cruiser.
“Is your recorder off?” he asks.
The video ends. Its total runtime is 5 minutes and 49 seconds.
IMPD’s social posts accuses teen of ‘pulling trigger’
On April 13, social media posts on the department’s official accounts said Brewer pointed a revolver at the sergeant. “Brewer made a gesture like he pulled the trigger, but the gun did not fire. He looked down at his gun as if he were surprised by this.”
Brewer told IndyStar that’s not what happened.
“As soon as she got up to the car, I didn’t touch anything. As soon as she said, ‘raise your hands,’ I raised my hands. I didn’t touch nothing at all. And then she said step out the car. I might as well comply,” Brewer said in an April 17 interview.
A probable cause affidavit includes no mention of Brewer making a gesture like he had pulled a trigger or looking surprised. It’s also unclear if the passenger’s phone was seized and reviewed.
The 17-year police veteran wrote in court documents that she initially saw Brewer’s friend with a “long gun” in between his legs, but she wasn’t able to see Brewer’s hands. As she stepped closer, she said Brewer appeared to be pointing a revolver toward her at the door panel.
“Brewer raised the revolver, then dropped the gun and raised both hands,” the probable cause affidavit said. “Sgt. Frazier could see an AR-style gun between Brewer’s legs and a revolver next to his left foot.”
Jade Jackson is a public safety reporter for the Indianapolis Star. You can email her at Jade.Jackson@IndyStar.com and follow her on X, formerly Twitter @IAMJADEJACKSON.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Here’s what IMPD body camera footage shows of teen arrest at Riverside
Reporting by Jade Jackson and Ryan Murphy, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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