MUNCIE, Ind. -- A man who was injured in an officer-involved shooting last month after he led Muncie police on a chase said it was wrong of police to fire at him.
Charles Dinkins, 24, is now in a wheelchair, and behind bars. He said he takes some responsibility for what happened on March 24, but he believes Muncie officers were wrong to fire their weapons at him.
Indiana State Police say the incident began as a traffic stop around 2:30 a.m. Muncie police attempted to pull over Dinkins, but he refused to stop and sped off.
“When the lights initially got on me I was about to pull over, and something made me pull off,” said Dinkins. “Once I did that, everything just happened so fast.”
Dinkins is accused of leading Muncie Police on a chase and crashing through a fence and into the back lot of the post office.
The woman who was with him jumped out of the moving vehicle, and as officers went to help her, they said Dinkins drove toward them at a high rate of speed.
“I indeed sped off, it was only my intention to elude,” said Dinkins. “I had no intention of running over any cops or anything like that.”
RELATED | Man injured in officer-involved shooting after leading Muncie police on chase
According to Investigators one of the officers had to run out of the vehicle's path to avoid getting hit and then both officers fired their weapons.
Dinkins said he was shot twice, once in the arm and then he was grazed in the back of the head.
“I think the shooting was racially motivated, I feel they had no reason at all to shoot me,” said Dinkins. “First of all, how do I get a bullet wound to the back of my head? What warrants you to shoot me from behind?”
After the shooting Dinkins sped away from the lot, and then he crashed into a parked truck a few blocks away.
When officers approached the vehicle and asked Dinkins who he was, he responded, “Rumpelstiltskin, Mother F******," according to investigators.
Dinkins was taken to Ball Hospital and treated for the injuries he sustained from the crash and gunshot wounds.
“If I were white and I had pulled over I still wouldn’t have got shot,” said Dinkins. “That’s the way I feel about it.”
Dinkins is charged with attempted aggravated battery, criminal recklessness, resisting law enforcement and leaving the scene of an accident.
“I’m guilty of eluding with that vehicle and leaving the scene,” said Dinkins. “That other stuff, the battery on an officer, none of that stuff there I intended to do or did I try to do.”
The Muncie Police Department Chief has declined to comment about the shooting because of the pending and ongoing investigation.
Indiana State Police will be reviewing body cameras worn by the officers involved as part of their investigation.
“I regret a lot about that night. I wish I had just pulled over from the beginning,” said Dinkins. “I wish none of this had taken place. If I had just pulled over, none of it would have taken place.”
