Elkhart detective accuses officers of felony crime, requests special prosecutor
ELKHART, Ind. - An Elkhart police detective claims her own superiors assaulted and detained her inside the offices of the police department, last November.
She claims it was the culmination of a malignant workplace culture that only became worse when she refused to file, what she believed, was an unconstitutional search warrant.
Indiana State Police investigated the case, identifying a possible felony charge of criminal confinement. But Elkhart County Prosecutor Vicki Becker has not pressed charges.
This week, the detective’s attorney filed a motion requesting a special prosecutor to pursue the case.
Detective Joy Phillips filed a grievance with the Elkhart Board of Public Safety over the Department's handling of a three-day suspension for her performance and conduct during a burglary investigation. It led to a two-day, roughly eight-hour hearing in October, 2022.
During that hearing, Det. Phillips claimed the real issue causing the discipline was her refusal to sign an affidavit for a search warrant which she believed lacked evidence and would be unconstitutional under the fourth amendment.
A line of questioning by Elkhart City Attorney Rose Rivera during the first day of the hearing, October 11th, tried to pinpoint whether commanding officers asked Phillips to lie on the application for a search warrant.
"A judge ultimately decides whether he believes [a search warrant] meets that legal standard, correct?" Rivera asked Phillips, who agreed.
“So as long as you are truthful in your application for a search warrant, nothing can be said to be illegal about it, correct?" Rivera followed up.
ABC57 specifically asked the Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson's office whether this line of questioning means the City of Elkhart believes if an officer is worried about potentially violating someone’s civil rights, they should still do what they're told.
Elkhart Director of Communications Corinne Straight sent a statement, saying that would be a mischaracterization of Rivera's questions, and the City doesn't see Phillips claims as having any merit.
“The City’s position on the obligations of an Elkhart Police officer who is given an illegal order or to violate the civil rights of another is clear," Straight wrote. "If an officer believes he or she has been given an illegal order, the officer should immediately report this misconduct to a supervisor. A police officer who carries out an illegal order or violates the civil rights of another, violates the law and may be subject to discipline, prosecution, or both.”
During the second day of the hearing, October 25th, the Elkhart Chief of Police at the time, Kris Seymore, gave a robust defense of the integrity of the department.
"None of this is true. None of it. Policy was not broken, policy was followed," Seymore testified. "I have suspended captains for violating policy. And I have removed professional standard investigators for not following policy. So, to insinuate that I would stand idly by and allow policies to be broken by the very people that I've appointed, flies in the face of everything that I've sworn since day one.”
One week after that testimony, on November 1st, officers filed two complaints against Det. Phillips, triggering two internal affairs cases. One, for improperly obtaining investigatory information. Another, for improperly releasing investigatory information.
Phillips and her attorney, Jeffrey McQuary, believes the complaints were clear retaliation.
"If she does not think that something she has been ordered to do is lawful, she lets it be known," McQuary told ABC57 in an interview. "I think that makes her superiors uncomfortable. They ordered her to do something that's unconstitutional.”
November 2nd, superiors advised Det. Phillips she is being recommended for termination. And that day is the day, Phillips claims, she was held inside Elkhart Police offices against her will.
"Joy was horrified and humiliated," McQuary said. "She was thinking ‘I can't believe this is happening, I can't believe they're doing this to me’.”
Officers informing Phillips of the complaints against her spotted a voice and video recording device separate from her police body camera, personally belonging to Phillips.
According to McQuary, they demanded the recording devices. When Phillips refused to hand them over, her attorney claims, officers tried to confine Phillips to her office, yank a backpack from her body, and block exits.
Indiana State Police investigated the officers involved for felony criminal confinement. Elkhart County Prosecutor Vicki Becker did not move forward with charges, leading to this new request for a special prosecutor.
McQuary believes Becker is complicit in department retaliation.
Detective Joy Phillips is a 24-year veteran of law enforcement who previously worked for the South Bend Police Department. While working there, she filed an EEOC complaint for workplace discrimination and sexual harassment; later winning a roughly $83,000 dollar judgement for retaliation.
She joined Elkhart Police in 2016.
ABC57 requested Phillips' personnel and disciplinary file from the City to see if there was a pattern of insubordination. The only disciplinary action the City provided information on was the initial complaints over the burglary investigation that started this series of events.
So far, to ABC57's knowledge, there has been no internal discipline for the other officers involved in the criminal confinement investigation.
Becker declined an interview, citing pending legal action. Straight said Mayor Rod Roberson does not see a reason to question the prosecutor's decision to not press charges.
The Elkhart Police Merit Commission has a hearing scheduled to start August 16th to discuss Det. Phillips' possible termination.