INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police on Monday blasted a judge’s decision to drastically cut the bond for a man accused of trying to stab officers in May.
“Our police officers and their families are horrified to learn of the details regarding the inexplicable reduction in bond and subsequent release of another suspected violent offender,” FOP Indianapolis President Rick Snyder said in a statement provided to WRTV.
“As a result, another suspected violent offender has been put back on the streets of Indy’s neighborhoods as the revolving door of criminal justice continues to spin in Marion County.”
But Curtis Walker’s fiancé said he was having a mental break at the time of the incident and came close to death because the Marion County Jail could not care for his medical needs.
“We needed him to get out because he was going to die,” Amanda Annarino told WRTV Monday. “He wasn’t getting the proper care in there… His medical needs, they needed to be put first.”
About 5 a.m. on May 31, officers were called to a home in the first block of South Colorado Avenue on reports of a man threatening a woman with a knife, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Walker, 35, was having a “mental breakdown” and holding a steak knife when he lunged at one of the officers who entered the home, according to the affidavit.
Officers William Fulton and Theodore Howlett, both two-year IMPD veterans, shot Walker multiple times, IMPD said.
Walker was critically injured and taken to Eskenazi Hospital. Annarinoa said he was shot six times in his abdomen.
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office on June 3 charged Walker with two counts of attempted murder and domestic battery with a deadly weapon. Attempted murder is a Level 1 felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of 40 years if convicted.
Bond was initially set at $80,000.
On Aug. 4, Marion Superior Court Judge Jennifer Prinz Harrison set a new cash bail at $2,000, records show.
Harrison's staff declined comment and referred WRTV to the Marion County Court Administrator's office. A representative there declined to comment because the case is still pending.
The online records do not explain why the judge reduced the bond, but Annarino told WRTV that nearly died while he was in the jail.
“Curtis, he’s not a criminal,” Annarino said. “He’s not a risk for running. He understands the severity of what happened."
Annarino said she is the woman described in the court documents as Walker’s donmestic violence victim. She’s identified by the initials “AA” in the affidavit.
She said she and Walker have been together for 12 years. He’s never been violent before, she said. Online court records show Walker has no prior criminal convictions in Indiana courts.
Walker, Annarino said, was diagnosed with mental illness in May 2020. He and his loved ones have been trying to get him help ever since, she said.
On the morning this happened, Annarino said, Walker lost control of his mind. He doesn’t even remember the incident, she said.
“He really was just sick and needed help,” Annarino said. “He literally, honestly, did not know what he was doing.”
She said she is not angry at the police. The FOP should not be upset Walker was released, Annarino said, because he is no danger to anyone and “he can barely stand up on his own.”
“I told the people at 911 that he was having a mental break,” Annarino said. “It was really just a call to get him some help and it turned into something it shouldn’t have.”
Walker's jury trial is scheduled for Oct. 4, records show.
Contact WRTV reporter Vic Ryckaert at victor.ryckaert@wrtv.com or on Twitter: @vicryc.
