Aaron Bailey

Aaron Bailey, 45, was shot four times in the back and killed by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officers Michal Dinnsen and Carlton Howard on June 29, 2017, moments after crashing his car into a tree at the end of a brief nighttime pursuit. Officers said Bailey ignored commands to show his hands and reached into the center console, where they feared a gun might be stored; no weapon was ever found in the car. Officers fired 11 shots into the back and side of the vehicle. A special prosecutor declined to bring criminal charges in October 2017, and federal investigators separately found insufficient evidence for civil rights charges. In a rare turn, IMPD's own police chief concluded the shooting was not justified and recommended both officers be fired — but Indianapolis's Civilian Police Merit Board voted 5-2 in May 2018 to clear them of any policy violation, allowing them to keep their jobs. No one has ever been held criminally or departmentally accountable for Bailey's death.

Indianapolis, IN · Marion County

• 2017: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The traffic stop, the pursuit, the crash, and the shooting, per special prosecutor Kenneth Cotter's 16-page report and subsequent Civilian Police Merit Board hearing testimony.
• Officers Dinnsen and Howard fired a total of 11 shots into the back and side of Bailey's vehicle after it crashed; four struck Bailey, and no weapon was found on him or in the car.
• Special Prosecutor Kenneth Cotter determined in October 2017 that the officers reasonably feared for their lives, citing Bailey's failure to cooperate, his reported nervousness, and his movement toward the center console after the crash, and declined to bring charges.
• IMPD's own Firearms Review Board and Police Chief Bryan Roach, who took office in January 2017, both concluded the officers violated department training and policy; Roach suspended both officers without pay and formally recommended their termination.
• The seven-member Civilian Police Merit Board voted 5-2 in May 2018, after a three-day hearing, to clear Dinnsen and Howard of any policy violation, overturning the police chief's own recommendation and allowing both officers to keep their jobs.
• The U.S. Department of Justice announced in April 2019 that an independent federal review, incorporating the special prosecutor's report, the merit board record, and an FBI investigation, found insufficient evidence to prove a willful federal civil rights violation.
• The City of Indianapolis settled with Bailey's estate for $650,000, without admitting wrongdoing, as part of an agreement in which the family dismissed its civil lawsuit.

• Whether Bailey's movement toward the center console reflected an actual attempt to retrieve a weapon, as officers believed, or an innocuous motion given that no gun was ever found, was disputed by the family and was never resolved by any criminal trial since none was brought.
• Why the Civilian Police Merit Board reached a conclusion directly opposite to that of the police department's own Firearms Review Board and chief, examining the same underlying conduct, has not been fully explained beyond board members' general statements about being persuaded by hearing testimony.
• The Bailey family raised specific questions about whether all evidence presented to the merit board was complete and accurate; what, if anything, that concern turned up has not been made public.

• WTHR — “Justice Department won't pursue civil rights charges in Aaron Bailey case”
• Fox 59 — “Merit Board decides not to terminate officers in fatal shooting of Aaron Bailey”
• Indianapolis Recorder — “Year in Review: Officers kept jobs after killing Aaron Bailey”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs