From Whitaker-Blakey v. State, decided two weeks ago by Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Rudolph Pyle III, joined by Judges Leanna Weissmann and Paul Felix:
In January 2024, … [police] Officer Phillips …, who is a black woman, parked her unmarked police car in the Muncie City Hall parking lot. Officer Phillips was dressed "business casual" with her "gun and badge on" over her blouse. Officer Phillips exited her car and began walking around the rear of it. Suddenly, a man "popped up" from behind a parked, marked police car in the parking lot about ten feet away from Officer Phillips.
The man was wearing a "white hood" with the "eyes cut out" and had a backpack. While Officer Phillips was looking in the man's direction, the man stepped closer to her and said the word "nigger[.]" The man did not say anything else to Officer Phillips and did not make any gestures or hand movements towards Officer Phillips. Officer Phillips was the only person in the parking lot with the man.
Officer Phillips "tried to keep an eye on" the man while walking "briskly" into the building. The man started walking away and removed the white hood….
When the man was later found and arrested,
