Three days after Christmas in 2018, a Linden man was shot and killed by an Indiana State Police trooper near North Montgomery High School.
Glenn Rightsell’s death prompted calls for state troopers to wear body cameras in their interactions with the public. Shortly after New Year’s, protesters gathered outside the Montgomery County Courthouse demanding authorities release more details about the case. Similar “Justice for Glenn” rallies were held throughout the year.
The trooper who shot Rightsell, Daniel Organ, returned to duty a little more than a week after the incident. In March, Montgomery County Prosecutor Joe Buser ruled the shooting justified and Organ was not charged.
With the criminal case closed, Rightsell’s family began laying the groundwork for civil action. A complaint was filed with the state’s medical malpractice division in May alleging Franciscan Health Crawfordsville failed to keep Rightsell alive during attempts to clear his airway.
Rightsell’s estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit against state police, Crawfordsville Police and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office earlier this month.
Family and friends will gather for a vigil at noon Saturday outside the courthouse on the first anniversary of Rightsell’s death, renewing the call for body and dashboard cameras.
A string of other police-involved shootings dominated the crime beat this year.
In April, police shot a Ladoga man who allegedly fired at officers serving a search warrant. Matthew Olsen, who has a lengthy criminal history, was suspected of having firearms, marijuana and drug paraphernalia on his property. A judge sentenced Olsen to seven years in prison.
Seven weeks later, a Crawfordsville man was accused of pointing a BB gun at police responding to a domestic disturbance at his South Walnut Street home. Officers shot Lucas Anderson.
Anderson received a suspended prison sentence and was placed on supervised probation and home detention.
Just days after that incident, a pursuit ended in a shooting after the driver brandished a semi-automatic rifle at police.
Crawfordsville resident Josh Brown, who was wanted in Boone County for violating his probation and failing to appear in court on separate cases, had fled a traffic stop on Lebanon Road.
The chase ended at a Banjo Corp. parking lot, where Brown refused to comply with police and pointed the rifle out of the vehicle’s window. An officer shot Brown in self-defense, police said.
Brown landed back in jail last month for having a firearm without a license.
