Two Elkhart Police Officers accused of beating a restrained man in their custody in January 2018 have been moved to unpaid administrative leave by the city's Board of Public Safety on Monday morning.
A video of officers Joshua Titus and Corey Newland repeatedly punching a man in handcuffs was distributed widely when an investigative report by the South Bend Tribune and ProPublica came out last fall.
The two officers have been on paid administrative leave since November 14th. They are facing state charges in the incident. And on March 21st the officers were indicted by a federal grand jury.
Elkhart Police Chief Chris Snyder said the department policy was to place the officers on paid administrative leave, the move to unpaid leave is because of a new protocol.
“We now have something in place that shows this is when we can do it and we felt this was the appropriate time after the indictment.”
The department is also undergoing and independent investigation into the questions brought by the Tribune’s report, including questions of disciplinary procedure.
Snyder said the investigation is meant to make the department better than it was before. "We're just looking for the opportunity, if there's things that we can fine tune we want to be able to fine tune them."
Investigators are scheduled to be in town this month to talk to officers and community members about the police department.
Snyder said Titus and Newland will continue to go through the criminal justice system on the charges from the state and stemming from the federal indictment.
