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Ball State rookie cop kills DX
Sunday, November 16, 2003
Family will remain vigilant
Brother of shot BSU student wants officer charged
By Diana Wires
Hoosier Times
Sunday, November 16, 2003Ryan McKinneyLast Friday night started out like many others for a group of former fraternity members at Ball State University in Muncie. But by the time the sun rose Saturday, the group had lost a friend and brother.
Michael McKinney, a 21-year-old business major from Bedford, was shot and killed by a university police officer. His death is still being investigated by police and mourned by his friends and relatives. His family is seeking punishment for the police officer.
But that Friday night started on a happy note.
Scott Clark was a friend of McKinney's and was with him until 2 a.m. the next day.
Clark said six members of the former Delta Chi fraternity, whose recognition as a BSU student organization had been withdrawn early this semester when their house was repossessed, met at North and Dicks streets in Muncie at 9 p.m. Friday.
McKinney arrived about 9:25 p.m. and immediately got into Clark's vehicle and headed to the Stirling's Bar & Eatery, 114 North Mulberry St., about a half-mile away. There McKinney had about three or four mixed drinks, Clark said. Three members of the group left before the others. The remaining three — Clark, McKinney and Phil Juskevice — left the bar at approximately 11:30 p.m., Clark said.
Clark's roommate, who had not been drinking, picked the three up and took them to a nearby Village Pantry. From there they walked to BW3s, another bar. A little while later they went to The Locker Room, yet another bar, about 20 yards away from BW3s. While in The Locker Room, Clark saw McKinney with a beer, but he is not sure how much McKinney drank there.
"He was socializing with lots of people he hadn't seen in a while," he said
Clark left about 2 a.m. and saw McKinney for the last time.
After Clark left, McKinney went with some friends, including Juskevice, to walk back to another apartment, where McKinney normally spent weekends, Clark said.
No one answered the door, and McKinney, Clark said he was told by Juskevice, took off running toward another house by himself.
McKinney then allegedly pounded at a door on the same street as his destination. The woman who lived there called police, and BSU officer Robert Duplain arrived.
Duplain was armed with only a gun, because he did not have the proper training to carry BSU's version of pepper spray, which contains an added chemical to restrict breathing.
Duplain, 24, shot and killed McKinney.
Police have said that Duplain and a neighbor saw McKinney lunge at Duplain before the officer fired.
Ryan doesn't believe his brother would lunge at an officer.
"It really bothers me, anyone that knew Mikey knew he wasn't an aggressive person and wouldn't come at the officer," Ryan said.
Duplain was immediately placed on administrative leave and will remain on that status until the investigation is complete.
Clark, the former Delta Chi president, said that BSU officers have dealt with fraternity members in the past.
"They were pretty procedural," he said of the officers. "They weren't real rude or ... anything in that nature at all."
Duplain had been with the BSU Police Department for seven months. Before that he worked for two years as a campus safety officer at Taylor University, where he received a sociology degree in August 2002.
Jim Garriger, director of news services for Taylor, said Duplain did "an outstanding job" at that campus.
"During that time he had full police powers," Garringer said. "He could arrest and detain people, but at the same time he didn't carry any kind of a gun. He would have carried pepper spray."
Duplain had taken 80 hours of pepper spray training at Taylor, which was conducted by a retired Marion Police Department officer.
BSU police use a different type of pepper spray. It is mixed with a chemical that restricts breathing, and requires after care. Officers are trained with that equipment, and not standard pepper spray, before they are allowed to carry it, according to Heather Shupp, executive director for BSU communication.
Duplain was scheduled to attend the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield in January.
Indiana officers are required to attend the academy within one year of employment, according to Michael Eslinger, executive director for the Indiana Sheriff's Association.
"I know they do teach defensive tactics, and they have a course in alternatives to deadly force," he said. "You read about these things, but until they hit fairly close to home you don't think much about them. I'm sure there are some (police shootings in the line of duty) out there that are justified."
McKinney's family did not receive notice of his death until 8 a.m. on that Saturday. They did not find out many other details until about four to five hours later, according Ryan McKinney, who is four years older than his late brother.
"I had a lot of issues about how they handled telling our family and dealing with our family," Ryan McKinney said. "I realize you can't tell every little detail, but they didn't have the courtesy to tell us where he was or anything that the reporters knew."
He still believes the department is not telling their family enough.
"It's really appalling to leave a family in the dark the way they have," he added. "You expect some calls saying, 'We're working on this thing and we're going to do our best' ... but nothing. I hope other departments are not like this. There's no way it should be handled like this."
He believes Duplain should be punished.
"I want him to go to jail, there's no ands, ifs or buts about it," he said. "I want him to go to jail for manslaughter or murder. I'm not talking about a 30-day sentence because he murdered my brother. There's no, 'It's in the line of duty,' because my brother's dead, and he's not coming back."
The Muncie Police Department is investigating the case. The police report will be turned over to the Delaware County prosecutor, who will decide whether to press charges or if the case should go to a grand jury.
"We will do whatever it takes to get it to go to a grand jury," Ryan McKinney added. "Even if we have to sit in the prosecutor's office for the next month and annoy the hell out of them. This is not something I'm going to let go with a slap-on-the-wrist suspension."
Members of the McKinney family are handing out and putting up green ribbons. They are designed to "keep Michael in their thoughts and that this is something that's brought to justice, and that another family doesn't have to go through this again," Ryan McKinney said. "It's hard to stay strong when you can barely function yourself, but we're trying to keep our faith, and we appreciate everyone's prayers and support because it's really helped out."
McKinney described his brother as someone who was "kind-hearted, fun loving and a happy-go-lucky kind of guy."
"It has been evident over the last week how many people's lives he touched, " he added. "He and I were brothers, but we really became best friends as we both grew up and kind of matured."
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