The father of Michael McKinney, the Ball State student who wasshot and killed by a University Police officer, said he plans toask the Indiana State Police to intervene in the investigation ofhis son's death.
Tim McKinney, Michael McKinney's father, said he is unhappy withthe way the Muncie Police Department and the Delaware CountyProsecutor's office is handling the investigation. He said hethinks officials might be trying to protect officer Robert Duplain,the man who killed his son.
"I don't believe that there's even a remote possibility thatDuplain's going to have any criminal charges," McKinney said. "Thiswhole game has players in it that are all kind of on the sameteam."
But Major Larry Turner with the Indiana Police Department saidthe prosecutor seems to be doing the right thing, referring to thegrand jury the prosecutor announced last week.
A grand jury allows citizens to decide what happens to Duplain,Turner said.
The Ball State Police typically asks the Muncie Police toinvestigate in these circumstances, Turner said.
Tim McKinney, however, said that because the UPD, the MPD andthe Delaware County Prosecutor's office all work in Muncie, theclose relationships might get in the way. He said he is alsodisturbed because city and county officials seem hesitant to answerhis questions.
"I just wonder if we're not going through some window dressing,"Tim McKinney said. "For the sake of objectivity, it just makessense to me that you would have the investigating agency to be asfar removed from the agency (under investigation) as possible."
The only way the Indiana Police would have gotten involved is ifthe prosecutor had called and asked them at the beginning of theinvestigation to do so, Turner said.
Tim McKinney said he had contacted State Police officials oncebefore to ask if they were required to get involved in theinvestigation. They told him they were not, but he has the optionto officially request their involvement. Tim McKinney said he nowplans to exercise that option.
For Tim McKinney to get the Indiana Police Department involvednow, he will have to write a letter to the superintendent of theIndiana Police Department, which will decide whether or not tobecome involved, Turner said.
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