On New Year’s Eve, Anthony Maclin, 24, was asleep in his car in his grandmother’s driveway. He had committed no crime, was not suspected of a crime, and harmed no one. However, none of this was a defense against three police officers surrounding his car, firing for seven straight seconds, and filling Mclin with holes.
On the night they filled Maclin with holes, police were responding to a call about an unidentified man sleeping in a car in a woman’s driveway. Maclin was in a rental car with Florida plates, and his own grandma called police because she didn’t recognize the car — a mistake she now direly regrets.
According to police, they attempted to wake Maclin, who was asleep with his legally owned and registered handgun in his lap. Instead of simply taking cover and waking him from a distance with a police loudspeaker, officers surrounded the car with guns drawn as if Maclin was a wanted murder suspect.
It is not a crime to sleep in your car with a gun on your lap in Indiana. In fact, Indiana has laws on the books that allow you to defend yourself on your own property — including from police officers.
Nevertheless, these cowboy cops surrounded the car, guns drawn until Maclin began moving around; at which point they attempted to execute him.
Never once in the body camera footage below do you hear officers say, “drop the gun,” or “he has a gun,” or even the word “gun.” This is likely due to the fact that Maclin never touched the gun in his lap and the trigger-happy cops opened fire on him out of sheer fear.
Once she realized that it was her grandson in the vehicle, Vickie Driver became hysterical. “That’s my grandson,” she said, immediately regretting the call to police. “I’m so sorry.”
“I didn’t want to wake you guys up,” Maclin said as he lay on the ground bleeding out after being shot. Miraculously, Maclin lived. He was hospitalized for weeks and has undergone six surgeries.
He has not been charged with a crime.
Hellbound and Down 