After not having enough members attend last month’s meeting, South Bend’s Community Police Review Board will try again Thursday to weigh in on how an officer handled a juvenile female outside the downtown McDonalds in August.
Chief Scott Ruszkowski has wholeheartedly defended 11-year-veteran patrolman Sam Chaput’s decision to tackle the 14-year-old girl, holding her face down against the curb, after the restaurant staff had called police to complain about her behavior inside.
It’s the first high-profile case for the board, which has no disciplinary powers. They had been slated to review Chaput’s actions last month but couldn’t because they lacked a quorum, or enough members, under board rules. Black Lives Matter South Bend called that “a profound moral failure,” saying members’ absence shows “a disturbing disregard for the safety, dignity, and humanity of Black youth in this city.”
On Thursday the board will try again. They’ll deliberate and vote on whether they agree with the department’s exoneration of Chaput. They’ll also discuss whether to recommend a new policy to the department and the city’s common council on developing a new policy requiring officers to undergo age-specific de-escalation training.
