WEST CHESTER TWP., Ohio — West Chester Township trustees agreed to pay a settlement to a man who claims police officers racially profiled him while searching for a shoplifting suspect in a grocery store.
According to a draft of the resolution approved by trustees on Feb. 18, Eric Lindsay will receive $28,000 as a settlement in his lawsuit against Meijer, the West Chester Police Department and officers Tim Mintkenbaugh and Tanner Csendes
"The Board of Trustees has determined that it is in the best interests of the Township to enter into the settlement agreement and release as a resolution to the suit filed by Mr. Lindsay," reads the resolution.
The settlement stems from an incident that happened Jan. 29, 2021, in a West Chester Meijer store.
In a call to 911, a Meijer loss prevention worker described a white suspect who was wearing a dark green/gray Carhartt coat with a red hoodie underneath.
Lindsay, a Black man wearing a puffy burnt orange coat with a scarf, was stopped by police and questioned.
"I shouldn't have been stopped," Lindsay said. "Do I need to have been tased or cuffed to feel like I was done wrong? I don't think so."
Once the West Chester officers realized they had the wrong person, they proceeded to find the shoplifting suspect and arrest him.
After the incident, Lindsay filed a complaint with the West Chester Police Department. The internal investigation report of the incident says Lindsay "alleges the officers profiled him and stopped him because of the color of his skin."
"Mr. Lindsay felt humiliated and embarrassed by the encounter," the report says.
The WCPO 9 I-Team requested, received and examined police records, including body camera video, audio recordings and additional records documenting the West Chester police response to Meijer's request for officers.
How did it happen?
West Chester Chief of Police Joel Herzog said the two officers knew the suspect was a white man when they entered the store.
A few minutes later, body camera video shows Csendes had concerns about a man in one of the grocery aisles. That man was Eric Lindsay.
"Is this him right here walking up to us?" Csendes said to Mintkenbaugh.
Csendes said he thought the man was wearing a Carhartt coat. The internal investigation report says Csendes later explained that since he believed the coat was tan, he assumed it was a Carhartt coat because tan is a popular Carhartt color.
"It doesn't look anything like him," Mintkenbaugh told Csendes.
Still, body camera video shows both officers moved toward Lindsay anyway.
You can watch the full, raw video via bodycam of the officers' response in the video below. NOTE: The only edits WCPO made were for profanity.
Csendes, a former loss prevention employee, then told Mintkenbaugh that the man had "mirrored" him and looked at him, which appeared to make Csendes suspicious.
"He felt in his experience in loss prevention, 'Hey, this guy's watching us also,'" Herzog said. "So, maybe this guy's involved."
According to the internal police investigation, Mintkenbaugh wrongly believed that a nearby Meijer employee worked in loss prevention and had helped Csendes identify Lindsay as a possible suspect, though Mintkenbaugh did not know who the employee was or if the suspect's description had changed.
"Hey, boss," Mintkenbaugh said to Lindsay. "Come talk to me."
The police internal investigation found at that point, a police dispatcher is heard on the body camera video telling officers the suspect is in a different part of the store near candles. Body camera video then shows Lindsay, who is not white.
Mintkenbaugh and Csendes continue moving toward Lindsay anyway.
"How are you doing?" Mintkenbaugh said.
"I was doing well until I got stopped," Lindsay said. "What's up?"
"LP (loss prevention) called and said that you were concealing some items in your jacket," Mintkenbaugh said.
Mintkenbaugh asked Lindsay if he had items concealed in his jacket.
"What did they say?" Lindsay asked the officers. "A Black man did it?"
Body camera video shows Csendes told Lindsay that Meijer loss prevention said the suspect was wearing a tan jacket even though police records show that was not true. Lindsay is seen in the body camera video getting angrier and louder.
"This isn't tan," Lindsay said to the officers. "This is orange as f***."
Mintkenbaugh continued questioning Lindsay.
"Do you have any items in your jacket?" Mintkenbaugh said to Lindsay.
"Hell yeah, I got items in my jacket," Lindsay said. "Items that I walked in here with behind you guys."
"Well, that's not what we're being told," Mintkenbaugh said on the body camera video.
Right after that exchange, you can hear the police dispatcher say the suspect is now near Valentine's Day cards.
Body camera video shows Lindsay continuing to curse the officers, demanding an apology.
Mintkenbaugh gives Lindsay his business card and tells him who to contact if he wants to file a complaint.
Two minutes later, a different officer arrested Tyler Brewer, a white man in the store who matched the description of the suspect.
The police department's internal investigation found Mintkenbaugh and Csendes violated police department policy that prohibits unjustifiable stopping and questioning of citizens.
Chief Herzog said Mintkenbaugh was not being untruthful with Lindsay because Mintkenbaugh believed the description of the suspect had changed and that Lindsay was a suspect.
The investigation found that Csendes knew Lindsay was not the suspect once they got close enough to determine he was Black, but Csendes told internal police investigators he did not stop the questioning of Lindsay because he wasn't comfortable correcting Mintkenbaugh, his training officer.
Csendes violated department policy by failing to stop the interview, the investigation report says.
The internal investigation found the officers did not stop Lindsay because he's Black, saying Mintkenbaugh and Csendes were not close enough to see Lindsay's skin color when they started to approach him for questioning.
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