7 Police Officers Fired or Punished for Offensive Actions During Brawl

Punishments were handed down Thursday for seven police officers accused of taking part in a drunken melee involving racial slurs, lewd remarks to women and attacks on two men who tried to intervene.

Four of the officers have been indicted on charges stemming from the Aug. 27 brawl, and an investigation showed three others violated department rules, acting Chief Robert Allen said Thursday.

Two officers will be fired, two suspended without pay and three demoted, Allen said. They have 30 days to appeal to the department’s civilian merit board, which must approve the punishment.

The officers--all white members of an elite police unit and all but one off-duty--emerged from a downtown bar, taunted the women and then beat up and arrested a black man who confronted them, as well as a white man, police said.

Among the witnesses was a white minister who said one officer “was blowing Budweiser in my face.”

As many as 50 people witnessed the attack, which strained already poor relations between police and Indianapolis’ black community and led to the resignation of Police Chief Donald Christ.