Over 200 people gathered on Dec. 5 to celebrate one year of Mirror Indy. We celebrated this special year with our staff and supporters. Here’s an inside look into an unforgettable night. Cheers to Year 2!
Today is Documenters’ Day!!! Indy Documenters is a special part of Mirror Indy’s newsroom. They are paid $20 an hour to take notes at public government meetings where decisions are made that affect your city and neighborhood. It’s a civic side hustle.
We have trained more than 200 people in Indy and attended more than 200 meetings! Help us continue to grow Indy Documenters. To learn more about how to become an Indy Documenter tap the link in our bio.
Gladys and Herman Whitfield Jr. leave Marion Superior Court after hearing the verdict in the death of their son, Herman Whitfield III.
Both IMPD officers were found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide. Story coming soon at http://mirrorindy.com.
Kevin Nestor’s landlord started trying to get rid of renters who were supposed to be receiving help through the Indianapolis Housing Agency’s Section 8 program. But IHA is behind on payments.
The 67-year-old was evicted and his items ended up in the landlord’s storage company. He said his landlord wanted $800, plus $11 per day, to get his things back.
Nestor is homeless. He has slept outside, camping in a southside park or in the woods by the White River. Lately, he’s been staying with friends. Nestor still has a Section 8 voucher and said he has a case manager who’s helping him get into an apartment.
Read more here: https://mirrorindy.org/broken-housing-indianapolis-iha-hud-section-8-tenants-evictions-dennis-brackenridge/
Randi Atwell lived at her apartment in Beech Grove for four years, as a Section 8 tenant, before she was evicted by her landlord. Her rent was supposed to be paid by the Indianapolis Housing Agency.
The 35-year-old mother tried to explain to a judge why she wasn’t to blame. According to multiple landlords, the public housing agency is several months and thousands of dollars behind on rent.
Atwell’s landlord insists he tried getting ahold of IHA but never heard back. IHA officials said the landlord didn’t do everything he was supposed to.
She is without a home and a voucher.
"We are being treated like trash and like we did something wrong,” Atwell said. She and her 9-year-old son have been staying with family and friends.
IU Health’s urgent care locations in Indy reported a 200% increase in pneumonia cases in September.
Dr. Ethan Blocher-Smith, an IU Health primary care physician, said pneumonia can originate from viruses such as the flu, a cold or COVID-19. Children, in particular, are at a higher risk of catching pneumonia because it can spread quickly in classrooms or daycares.
Dustin Fogt says he was restrained and hit in the ribs by staff at Options Behavioral Health Hospital in Lawrence for not giving up his phone passcode. He also describes being held against his will without receiving proper care.
Fogt filed a lawsuit on Sept. 30 against Acadia Healthcare, which operates 50 psychiatric hospitals across the country, including Options. He is one of several former patients who have come forward to share troubling stories.
An Acadia Healthcare spokesman said the company could not substantiate the allegations made by Fogt and other patients.
Get the full story at the link in our bio.
Lockefield Gardens was the first public housing complex in Indy. Built in 1938, it was where thousands of Black residents lived before it was partially torn down to make way for IUPUI’s expansion in 1983.
Leslie Allen, 65, remembers it as one big family, not the slums as others have claimed.
“Our mothers here in Lockefield made a way out of no way,” Allen said. “If it was the projects, we didn’t know it. Lockefield was a village.”
She said it was a place where kids played outside and danced to the Temptations on Saturday nights at the Fun Bowl, where neighbors went to their mothers’ fish fries and spaghetti dinners and where the best basketball players competed in the Dust Bowl such as Oscar Robertson, a Crispus Attucks graduate who grew up in the complex.
Since 1987, the renovated Lockefield primarily houses college students and hospital employees.
Get the full story at the link in our bio.
Paige Dufour, 39, says she was held at a Lawrence mental health facility against her will for nearly six days.
When Dufour visited an IU Health emergency room with symptoms of anxiety and depression in March, she was referred to Options Behavioral Health Hospital.
She voluntarily checked herself in, but soon grew concerned about the facility’s practices.
She said staff berated her, threatened her when she tried to leave and coerced her to strip naked for photos.
Dufour is pursuing legal action against Acadia Healthcare, which operates 50 psychiatric hospitals across the country, including Options Behavioral Health Hospital and two other locations in the Indianapolis area.
Her story comes on the tail of a New York Times investigation earlier this month detailing a disturbing pattern of the company detaining patients like Dufour when it wasn’t medically necessary — only to release them once their insurance ran out.
Tim Blair, a spokesperson for Acadia, said its Lawrence facility has not been served with any legal documents from Dufour. He declined to comment on her allegations, citing patient privacy laws.
“Our commitment to the highest standards of care and integrity remains steadfast,” Blair wrote in an email to Mirror Indy.
Get the full story at the link in our bio.
A new article from Mirror Indy tells the story of 21-year-old Ty’trell Averitte-Bass and his journey as a fellow in the city’s Indy Peace Fellowship.
In this video, Ty’trell remembers the moments immediately after he was shot nine times in front of a Riverside gas station.
Ty’trell met his life coach, Daniel Mallory, in the hospital while he was recovering.
“I want to change,” Ty’trell said from his bed that day in June. “I want to be a better role model for my kids.”
“I got you,” Daniel replied. “Let’s use this situation as a catalyst.”
Read and watch the full story at the link in our bio.
Daniel Mallory is no stranger to the streets or life behind bars.
“I used to be scared of who I could be,” the 45-year-old Indianapolis resident said. “I was complacent with selling dope. I was complacent with holding a pistol. I was afraid to change the perception everybody had of me, to go into the phone booth and change from Clark Kent to Superman.”
After serving more than 15 years in prison, Daniel became a life coach for the Indy Peace Fellowship to help young men who are at the highest risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of gun violence.
“I’ve been on both sides,” Daniel said. “I’ve been shot and I’ve been the shooter.”
At IU Health Methodist Hospital, Daniel met his latest peace fellow: Ty’trell Averitte-Bass, a young father who was shot nine times in June. No one had been arrested in the shooting, and doctors said Ty’trell would never walk again.
“Let’s use this situation as a catalyst,” Daniel told him.
As Ty’trell recovered, Daniel helped him reshape his life. The two made a list of goals together: getting an apartment; signing up for disability, paying child support; being a good father, son and friend.
“I’m starting it all,” Ty’trell said. “All the things I didn’t do.”
Get the full story at the link in our bio.
Gun violence is personal to this Haughville teen. So, he created a film to talk about it.
