Indianola Police Sgt. Greg Capers was threatened, assaulted and was spat upon by a suspect during a December 30, 2022 callout to a domestic dispute.
But it was Capers, for the better part of two months, who had to live under a mountain of scrutiny brought on by the suspect, his family and a host of community activists, including a local journalist who tried to bring national attention to the story.
Capers was called out to a home on North Elmwood Circle during the early evening hours of Dec. 30. His response was the result of a 911 call where a woman told dispatchers “He’s standing outside my door with his gun,” referring to suspect Kelvin Franklin, a man well-known to police, Chief Ronald Sampson said.
Franklin, who indeed had a firearm, ended up being tased by Capers that night, and after receiving medical treatment, was hauled to the county lockup.
But the story Franklin told his family and some in the media was vastly different than the story that unfolded on police body camera footage, which The Enterprise-Tocsin was able to view and scrutinize this week.
“The guy had a firearm. This could have played out totally differently, but Sgt. Capers remained calm and took control of the situation, as our suspect was totally the opposite,” Sampson told The E-T.
In the weeks and months that followed Franklin’s arrest, Capers, along with other responding officers, was accused of tasing Franklin in the neck, beating him and choking him unconscious.
Rallies were held locally, and calls for the firing of Capers and Sampson followed.
When Franklin’s day in court came last week, however, he pled guilty to three charges, including simple assault on a police officer, carrying a concealed weapon and failure to obey an officer.
The E-T reached out to Franklin’s attorneys seeking comment. We did not hear back before press time.
Franklin received over $2,000 in fines and will serve 20 days in jail, Sampson said.
His support group, along with the social media frenzy, all went silent after that, Sampson said.
And there’s probably good reason many began to distance themselves from the case.
Sampson played the recorded 911 call for us.
“Get an officer over here,” the caller told the dispatcher.
After hearing the caller’s address, the dispatcher seems to recognize the residence and the person speaking on the other end. We have elected not to identify the caller, nor publish the address.
According to the woman, Franklin had been at the house earlier, had left, and returned intoxicated.
He was belligerent, she said, shouting at some of her family members. The dispatcher confirmed there were minors in the house.
After a few minutes of back-and-forth, The E-T could hear the initial encounter with Capers — the responding officer — and Franklin. Capers and Franklin were familiar with each other, Capers told us.
Despite knowing Franklin was likely armed, Capers holstered his gun and pulled his taser instead.
That’s where the bodycam takes over.
Capers can be seen approaching Franklin, who was standing at the front door of the residence.
“You got a gun on you?” Capers asks.
Franklin responds in code.
“You know I stay with my heat,” Franklin says, seeming to indicate he had a weapon, but he would claim moments later that he was unarmed.
Capers notices a bulge that seems to be a clear outline of a firearm under Franklin’s shirt in his waistband.
“If it’s not in a holster, you’re in trouble,” Capers says. “Franklin, don’t make no moves.”
Franklin is noncompliant.
“You’re fixing to get tased,” Capers says. “Put your hands up. You know how I roll.”
Another officer can be seen arriving. He walks up to Franklin and removes the firearm from Franklin’s pants without incident.
Capers asks Franklin if he has a holster.
Franklin becomes confrontational and begins to walk toward Capers.
“Back up,” Capers tells him. “Don’t walk up on me.”
Capers backs away and warns Franklin that he is about to get tased.
“You’re fixing to get lit up, I promise you that,” Capers says.
“Light me up,” Franklin responds.
Capers fires his taser into Franklin’s chest. Franklin immediately pulls the leads from his chest.
“He’s not tased at that point,” Sampson said during the review of the footage. “There’s no tasing going on right there. There’s nothing in him.”
Franklin falls to the ground and assumes the fetal position and tucks his arms where officers cannot get ahold of them.
Capers tases Franklin again, this time in his thigh area.
“No tasing takes place after that,” Sampson said.
Franklin tells the officers the tasing hurt, followed by, “Y’all done got my gun off of me.”
Multiple officers place Franklin in Capers’ police vehicle. Capers appears to clear police equipment off the backseat before placing Franklin inside. By this time, Franklin has gone limp.
“He’s acting like he’s out,” Capers said while watching the video.
In transport, Capers calls MedStat to the police station to check Franklin before taking him to the county jail.
When MedStat arrives, and Franklin is removed from the vehicle, he begins to shout and curse at Capers.
During this final altercation, Capers never seems to lose his composure.
“I’m going to f***ing kill you, man,” Franklin says at one point directly to Capers.
Following some back-and-forth between the officer and Franklin, Franklin says, “I’m going to f***ing spit in your m*therf***ing face.”
Moments later, Franklin can be seen spitting in Capers’ direction, hitting him and his body cam.
He follows that with another threat.
“I’m going to kill your a**,” he says.
Franklin can be seen being wheeled away by MedStat, still shouting and cursing.
After Franklin’s pleas this past week, Sampson said he expected some sort of apology from Franklin’s biggest supporters, including Angela Buckner of The Mic Magazine, who posted almost daily about the incident this winter, calling for the firings of Capers and Sampson.
“She tried to compare this to the situation that went on in Memphis,” Sampson said, referring to the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of multiple Memphis police officers earlier this year. “That was very unfair. Very unfair. We had an unruly subject. He had a weapon…Without having the proof, they put it out there that this officer was a rogue officer, that he was an abusive officer. They put out there that he was beaten by several officers. You’ve seen the video. Nobody beat him at all…How much worse could that situation have been? I think Sgt. Capers needs to be praised for keeping his control.”
Buckner told The E-T this week that her media organization was only seeking facts, and that she was denied an interview with Sampson and was not allowed to see the body cam footage.
“From the beginning, The Mic Magazine only asked for an interview and body cam footage,” Buckner said in a statement. “The Mic Magazine only wanted to report the facts but was denied. All The Mic Magazine had to go on was Franklin’s family accounts. He was innocent until proven guilty. That’s the American way.”
Sampson said the effects of the outrage surrounding this case may be long lasting for Capers and all of his 23 officers.
“We never get that back,” Sampson said of the hit to his department’s reputation. “They tell one story, and they don’t care to print the real thing.”
Sampson said he has still not received an official complaint from Franklin against Capers.
It’s a closed case as far as the courts are concerned, but when it comes to the court of public opinion, the stain from the accusations may not be so quick to go away.
“It’s more of a scar that it puts on the officers when they’re doing their daily thing,” Sampson said.
