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Eric Logan Remembered Two Years After His Death

Gemma DiCarlo / WVPE Public Radio

Two years ago on June 16, Eric Logan, a Black man, was shot and killed by a white South Bend police officer near downtown South Bend.

Friends and family gathered Wednesday evening in the parking lot of the Central High Apartments, where Logan was killed by a police officer responding to calls of someone breaking into cars. 

 

“We’re literally foots away from the spot that he was taken from us,” Justice for Michiana Vice President Morgan Nellum said. “A void will never be filled from that.”

 

The now-former officer didn’t have his body camera on and was never charged for the shooting, sparking calls for police reform both locally and nationally. 

 

In the two years since Logan’s death, South Bend has adopted a new police use of force policy, a community review board to independently investigate police complaints and a discipline matrix outlining penalties for officers who commit on-the-job offenses. 

 

Nellum said these are all steps in the right direction; however, she said police officers still have work to do if they want to build community trust.

 

“They need to get out and show that they’re not hiding behind desks,” Nellum said. “They’re actually patrolling, they’re actually out here, they’re actually showing that they care.”

 

Nellum said the pain of Logan’s death will “never go away,” but that the community coming together like it did Wednesday can help provide some closure. 

 

She said the family also has a pending lawsuit related to Logan’s death, which she said is set to go to trial August 30. 

 

“It’s never going to close the heart wound,” Nellum said. “But when we get justice, [it’ll be] a little bit of closure.”

 

Contact Gemma atgdicarlo@wvpe.orgor follow her on Twitter at@gemma_dicarlo.

 

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Gemma DiCarlo came to Indiana by way of Athens, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Georgia in 2020 with a degree in Journalism and certificates in New Media and Sustainability. She has radio experience from her time as associate producer of Athens News Matters, the flagship public affairs program at WUGA-FM.
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