INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A sheriff’s deputy died Monday after being assaulted in a transport van by an inmate he had just taken to visit a hospital in Indianapolis, authorities said.
Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy John Durm, 61, died at Eskenazi Hospital following the attack, Sheriff Kerry Forestal said.
The inmate, Orlando Mitchell, 34, assaulted Durm while the van was inside the exit port, or fortified entrance, to the adult detention center on the city’s south side, police said.
Mitchell then stole the van and crashed into a utility pole before other deputies took him back into custody. Mitchell was reported in stable condition at Eskenazi Hospital.
Indianapolis police are investigating the incident as an “act of intentional homicide”, officer Shane Foley said.
Mitchell has been jailed since September 2022 awaiting trial for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Krystal Walton. A phone message seeking comment was left with an attorney representing Mitchell.
Durm was a 38-year veteran of the sheriff’s department. His survivors include a wife and four children.
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb released a statement saying “it hurts me to try to put words again to the unfathomable loss of a man in uniform who protected Hoosiers from harm.”
Durm’s death comes a week after Tell City Sgt. Heather Glenn was fatally shot at Perry County Memorial Hospital in the Ohio River community by domestic abuse suspect Sean Hubert, 34, who was later killed by other officers.
One of the deputies who arrested Mitchell suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene.