Prosecutor: No charges against 2 officers in man’s shooting

Two central Indiana police officers won’t face charges for shooting a man who they said tried to run them down with his car after an attempted traffic stop.

Delaware County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman said a state police investigation into the incident found “no evidence that the two Muncie police officers who discharged their firearms that day committed any criminal acts.”

Charles Kevin Dinkins, 48, was shot and wounded by the officers on March 24, and then crashed into a parked pickup truck along a city street, The Star Press of Muncie reported.

The Muncie man was hospitalized for a few days before being transferred to the Delaware County jail.

Dinkins faces charges of attempted aggravated battery, criminal recklessness, resisting law enforcement and two counts of leaving the scene of an accident. He remains jailed on $40,000 bond pending a trial scheduled for July 17.

Authorities said Dinkins drove away when the two officers tried to stop him for a traffic offense. He allegedly drove through a supermarket’s parking lot and then down a street before crashing through a chain-link fence and entering a post office parking lot. There, he struck a postal van and another car, police said.

Police said the officers left their car and were trying to help an injured woman passenger who had exited Dinkins’ car after the crash when Dinkins allegedly drove in their direction at a high rate of speed. The officers responded by firing on his car.