Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards announced Monday that 45 of the more than 100 charges filed after weekends of violent protests in Fort Wayne will be dismissed.
The decision comes after more than 500 hours of video review by a diverse cross-section of Richards’ staff in the weeks since the protests.
Fort Wayne became one of many communities around the world embroiled in protests against racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
The protests escalated to violent clashes with police, tear gas, broken windows and injury.
Along with her investigation into protestors, Richards found five instances of what she believed was unreasonable force by police officers and referred those cases to the Fort Wayne Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division for further investigation.
Among those cases was the incident involving 21-year-old Balin Brake, who lost an eye when hit with what is believed to be a tear gas canister.
The Fort Wayne Police Department said they will review each case and then submit their findings to the chief for review and possible reprimand.
