WIBC News Ryan Hedrick Calls-In

**Hammer** (0:01)
You're listening to The Hammer and Nigel Show. Hi there, my name is Nigel, Jason Hammer, right over there with a very special guest on the hotline.

**Nigel** (0:08)
Ryan Hedrick is from the WIBC newsroom. He covered the press conference today from the IMPD, the Chief Tonya Terry. This was in regards to the shooting death of 23-year-old Brett Scroggum downtown in the parking garage. The suspect taken in custody, a 14-year-old black male.
Ryan, tell me about this press conference today. Walk me through what we learned.

**Ryan Hedrick** (0:36)
So we did not see the Marion County prosecutor, and that will not come until probably tomorrow, guys. We were learning that those charges probably won't be filed until tomorrow and they'll probably hold some type of presser. But Tonya Terry's kind of responsibility and the reason she was up there, I think, was just to warn the parents again and urge the community, which we've heard time and time again.
We've heard Chris Bailey talk about it. Now we're hearing Tonya Terry talk about it, just begging parents. So I turned it around on her and I said, for people that believe this is not enough, for people that are just sick of the, please get your kids off the streets, banging the drum, where's the parental responsibility? And then she said some stuff that actually really surprised me.

**Nigel** (1:27)
So you mentioned she said some things that surprised you. We'd mentioned earlier that the chief stated she was in favor of going after the parents of situations like this. Is that what you're referring to, Ryan?

**Ryan Hedrick** (1:42)
Yeah, that's absolutely what I'm referring to. So I believe that Tonya Terry's hands are tied when it comes to going after parents. I believe based on her track record, she's a 20 plus year veteran of the Indy Metro police that she believes in strict enforcement and accountability. But I believe at some point she comes across this Marion County prosecutor, Ryan Mears office. He says, well, wait a minute, because officially there's no statute in Indiana that says that you can charge a parent, you could hold a parent criminally responsible. There are certain things you could do guys. There is negligence, neglect of the dependent. There's a curfew violation. But there's not a lot of things you could do to hold parents criminally responsible. If God forbid their child shoot somebody in the head in a parking garage at 6 p.m. on a Thursday night.

**Hammer** (2:36)
Did she talk at all about the possibility of this 14 year old being charged as an adult?

**Ryan Hedrick** (2:46)
So, no, she did not short answer. And here's the thing. Ryan Mears has to actually request a waiver to get this kid to adult court. He just can't arbitrarily charge him as an adult. Because of his age, he has to request a waiver, as I understand it, to bring him to adult court. So there are a series of things that have to happen in order for this 14 year old boy to become criminally charged as an adult. And I suspect that's what will happen tomorrow. Because the last thing Ryan Mears really wants, given all the heat that's on him from the Carmel mayor, and what Senator Banks said earlier this week, is for him to drop the ball on this case that's so high profile. And people are very emotional about it.

**Nigel** (3:32)
We're speaking with Ryan Hedrick from the WIBC newsroom. He covered the press conference today from the IMPD that was led by Chief Tanya Terry.
Ryan, I went back and watched the press conference. First of all, great job on asking those tough questions to the chief. The impression that I got was the chief wanted this press conference to be a message to parents and adults in Marion County, more so than it was to give information about this arrest. Did you get that feeling?

**Ryan Hedrick** (4:05)
I did get that feeling. She's limited in what she can say. They're not going to share a motive because the case is ongoing and it's in the hands of the prosecutor. I think her point was to reiterate to parents, look, be a parent, take an interest in what your child is doing, regardless of how disconnected you may be.
You could be held liable at some point down the road and you could lose your child. There is a boy that will probably be in prison, maybe for the rest of his life, if not for the long share of his life.
And people just can't wrap their heads around it, right? I mean, at 14, you should be doing schoolwork, you should be playing sports, but I think that was her only aim today. And I just want to throw this in, I know you guys are up against the clock, but I've been talking to people in downtown Indianapolis, which is where I'm at right now. I've talked to eight people, guys, eight people. And I asked the question, do you believe parents should be held criminally accountable if their child commits a violent or deadly act? Eight people, four yes and four no. So people have strong opinions about that. And I posted that video on X Instagram and Facebook. It's out right now.