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Black Gary state Sen. Eddie Melton alleges racial profiling by Indiana Capitol Police at Statehouse rally

State police are investigating a charge that a white Capitol Police officer began reaching for his holstered handgun while confronting Gary state Sen. Eddie Melton Saturday at the Statehouse in Indianapolis.

Melton, who is a Black Democrat and former gubernatorial candidate, was taking part in a rally called “Beyond the Big Tent-Black Voices in Politics, sponsored by rally the Indiana Racial Justice Alliance.

The incident unfolded as Melton and state Sen. J.D. Ford, who is white, led demonstrators inside the Statehouse to shelter after a thunderstorm began.

Ford, D-Indianapolis, said security staff initially gave approval for the group of about 50 people to enter after he and Melton showed their ID badges and credentials as lawmakers.

Once inside, Ford said Capitol Police approached them.

“This interaction with the officers was aggressive from the start and could have been de-escalated, but was not,” Ford said.

It’s not known if there’s video of the incident but so far, nothing has been has been released.

Belinda Drake, a Gary native and Democratic state Senate candidate from Indianapolis, said a white Capitol Police officer came rushing toward the group yelling at Melton to “freeze” while unsnapping the holster on his firearm.

“Senator Ford tried to deescalate the situation, tried to get the trooper to take notice and listen, but the trooper was so singularly focused on Senator Melton,” Drake said.

In a statement, Melton said he and Ford have reached out to senate President pro tempore Rodric Bray and the Capitol Police about the incident.

“The only reason I am releasing a public statement is because attendants of the rally have already begun sharing their account of the incident on social media. I want to be clear that I don’t want this situation to become a distraction from the work that we’re doing through the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus on our police reform agenda,” Melton said.

Ford criticized the Capitol Police, a division of the Indiana State Police, for its handling of the situation.

“It is an unfortunate irony that my good friend and colleague Senator Eddie Melton experienced some of the same police bias we were there to speak out against,” Ford said.

“These kinds of incidents are all too common for Black and brown Hoosiers. The only difference is that this time I had a front-row seat and got to see with my own eyes exactly why so many Hoosiers are so upset with the way they are often treated by law enforcement.”

Ford said the police officer may not have recognized he and Melton were senators since they were dressed in casual clothing.

“The difference in how aggressively the Trooper treated Senator Melton compared to how generously he treated Senator Ford was unnerving,” Drake said.

In online video of the rally, Melton appeared shaken when he spoke afterward while wearing a T-shirt featuring the words “I can’t breathe,” the words spoken by George Floyd while a white Minneapolis officer pressed his knee into the Black man’s neck for several minutes before he died in May.

“An incident just occurred and just that quick, it could have escalated,” Melton said while snapping his fingers. “Just that quick. The reach for a weapon. That don’t make sense.”

Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.