Video released on Wednesday shows a man swinging a baseball bat at a police officer before being fatally shot outside a federal courthouse in southern Indiana.
Evansville police released security camera video showing 55-year-old Ricky Ard smashing two of the courthouse’s front door windows Tuesday morning, along with video from an officer’s body camera. The videos show at least two courthouse security officers drawing guns but not following Ard as he stayed outside the building and walked away.
Other angles show him starting back toward the building after a city police officer arrived. That officer, identified as 11-year police force veteran Kenny Duschke, yelled at Ard and tried to hit him with a stun gun before the man charged at the officer with the bat.
Evansville Sgt. Jason Cullum said that Duschke appears to have acted appropriately to defend himself. “When he made the decision to chase after the officer and attempt to strike him with a deadly weapon, unfortunately, he created a situation that led to his own death,” Cullum said.
