Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy John Durm was returning the detainee from a medical appointment Monday morning when he was attacked, the Indianapolis Metro Police Department said in a news release. Durm, 61, was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. He leaves behind his wife and four children, police said. The attack on the deputy was captured on video, according to a probable cause affidavit from an IMPD detective obtained by CNN affiliate WISH dated Tuesday.
In the video, Mitchell is seen stepping behind the deputy, placing his hands around Durm’s neck and allegedly using “the chain linking his handcuffs to choke” the officer, according to the affidavit. The two fall to the ground in a struggle and the inmate allegedly continues to choke the deputy until “Durm quits moving,” the affidavit says. The inmate then got off of Durm, found the handcuff key, removed his handcuffs and drove off in the jail van before crashing it into a wooden light pole.