INDIANAPOLIS…On May 14,2018 at 3:08 p.m. Officers from The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) Downtown District were dispatched to the area of N. Capitol Ave. and West Ohio St. in response to a caller stating about 50 people were blocking traffic on Capitol Ave. Responding Officers confirmed there was a large group of protesters gathered in the crosswalk blocking all lanes of Capitol Ave. and disrupting the flow of traffic for both North and Southbound travel. Verbal commands by arriving Officers to clear the street were ignored. IMPD traffic units were called in to block traffic in an effort to protect the protesters and motorists. Once traffic was blocked IMPD began administering disbursement commands over a marked IMPD patrol cars loud speaker every five minutes. These commands were warning protesters if they failed to disperse they would be subject to arrest. The group of protesters ignored these commands and refused to stop obstructing traffic. IMPD Supervisors on scene attempted to speak with protesters individually asking them to move out of the street and they refused. After being left with no alternative five females and nine males were arrested for Obstruction of Traffic.
These fourteen protesters were all arrested without incident and taken for processing.
