Prosecutor determines officers acted in self-defense

Brown County Prosecutor Jim Oliver said Friday that police officers acted in self-defense when they shot Troy Harden, 44, in Nashville, Ind., Nov. 28.

Oliver said criminal charges will not be pursued against the officers involved, according to a press release from Curt Durnil, Indiana State Police Bloomington Post Public Information Officer.

Officers arrived at a residence on Annandale Drive to serve an arrest warrant for Harden. He was wanted for probation violations out of Monroe County.

Before 9 p.m., Nov. 28, the renter of the residence allowed Brown County and Nashville law enforcement into the house to serve the arrest warrant. The officers said when they located Harden, he resisted arrest and told police to “kill him.”

Officers saw Harden was carrying a handgun and an officer deployed his taser, but Harden escaped through a window.

Officers chased Harden through the woods and on Annandale Drive. Officers tased Harden again.

He then pointed his gun at officers after he fell to the ground, according to the release. Officers fired their guns, striking Harden twice. Harden was transported to Columbus Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Bartholomew County Coroner Larry Fisher said in a previous Indiana Daily Student article Harden died from the loss of blood as the result of two gunshot wounds to the abdomen.

Harden was previously arrested for witnessing the murders of two men in 2007.

According to court documents, Harden said he helped Jerry Pelfree place the bodies of Douglas Brown and Everett Shaw in barrels and concealed the barrels inside a box truck. Harden said he was present during the murders and destroyed evidence by helping Pelfree burn the couch on which Brown was shot. Harden pled guilty to assisting a criminal.

Witnesses told ISP detectives that Harden knew there was a warrant for his arrest, and he was afraid of going to prison, according to the release.

“Mr. Harden chose his life to end this way,” Oliver said in the release. “Mr. Harden had told friends he wasn’t going to prison, and he took deliberate actions that forced officers to react the way they did.”

Oliver said the Brown County Sheriff’s Office and the Nashville Police Department acted appropriately by asking the ISP to conduct the investigation of the shooting.

“The officers showed great restraint,” Oliver said. “They attempted non-lethal force several times when they were threatened with a gun and responded with lethal force only when Mr. Harden aimed his weapon directly at them.”

Follow reporter Matt Stefanski on Twitter @stefanskimatt.