Authorities claim that during an attempted escape, a prisoner accused of killing an Indianapolis sheriff’s deputy who was carrying him in a van choked the deputy with the chain from his handcuffs.
An Indiana deputy sheriff was choked by an inmate using the chain from his handcuffs; the deputy eventually passed away in the hospital. (Photo: CNN)
ORLANDO MITCHELL ATTEMPTED TO ESCAPE AND KILLED THE SHERIFF’S DEPUTY
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – According to court records filed on Tuesday, Orlando Mitchell, a prisoner accused of killing a sheriff’s deputy who was carrying him in a van choked the cop with the chain from his handcuffs during an escape attempt in Indianapolis.
Following the attack, Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy John Durm, 61, passed away on Monday at a hospital.
Indianapolis police are looking into the incident as an “intentional act of homicide,” according to Officer Shane Foley.
The county coroner’s office declared a homicide and listed “ligature strangulation” as the cause of Durm’s death on Tuesday. Durm was a married father of four and a 38-year veteran of the sheriff’s office.
Orlando Mitchell, a 34-year-old prisoner, allegedly beat Durm on Monday while the van was in the Adult Detention Center’s reinforced entrance, or sally port, on the south side of the city.
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office stated on Tuesday that Orlando Mitchell has not been charged in Durm’s death and that a decision about charges was not anticipated “prior to Thursday afternoon at the earliest.”
However, according to a probable cause affidavit made public on Tuesday, footage shows Durm arriving into the detention facility at around 11:30 a.m. Monday in a van operated by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office following a trip to the hospital to accompany Mitchell.
Orlando Mitchell, the deputy murder suspect, allegedly killed his ex-girlfriend in 2022. (Photo: WRTV)
The affidavit claims that Orlando Mitchell is observed opening the van’s inner door and placing his hands above Durm’s head and around Durm’s neck after Durm exits the van and opens its rear door.
According to authorities, Orlando Mitchell then unlocked Durm’s handcuffs using the handcuff key he had acquired, climbed into the van, backed it out of the detention facility’s sally port, and crashed into a gate.
Later, after driving the van a short distance and striking a wooden pole, more deputies took Orlando Mitchell back into jail.
Since September 2022, Orlando Mitchell has been incarcerated while he waits to face justice for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Krystal Walton.
