Red Flags Surround Indiana J6 Police-Involved Shooting

[XLFD]

Let this reporter acknowledge his own bias at the forefront, in that he believes the approximately 1500 people held for years in federal prisons and similar gulag facilities were for the most part political prisoners, most held just for being part of a riot likely prompted by embedded feds, many guilty only of going through doors that were already wide open, some only guilty of being given guided tours by willing Capitol police officers.  I fully believe President Trump properly used his pardon powers in absolving the vast majority of J6 defendants who appear to have received excessively cruel and unusual punishment just for being part of a protest gone awry.

On that day, a Capitol policeman shot and killed Ashli Babbitt in what seems to be in cold blood from the video preserved of that incident.  This policeman, Michael Byrd, who went against all protocols in the murder, would be elevated to hero status by the media and the partisan J6 Committee.  As he doesn't appear to have been preemptively pardoned by Biden, he may face justice one day.  In all fairness, I must also declare bias against police officers who kill people by not following proper police procedures.

And that's why I find a recent story interesting about what happened down in Indiana, where a recently pardoned J6 man (Matthew Huttle, pictured below) was shot during a traffic stop by a county deputy and the official story doesn't hold up very well.  Here's the general summary of the incident as found in several media outlets, that rely primarily on the county sheriff's press release:

FOX 32 Chicago reports:  JASPER COUNTY, Ind. - A northwest Indiana man who was charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol building was shot and killed by an Indiana sheriff's deputy during a traffic stop Sunday afternoon.

The shooting happened at 4:15 p.m. Sunday January 26 during a traffic stop on State Road 14, east of County Road 475 E, near the Pulaski County line.

During the traffic stop, a Jasper County sheriff's deputy attempted to arrest the suspect, but the suspect resisted, officials said.

"An altercation took place between the suspect and the officer, which resulted in the officer firing his weapon and fatally wounding the suspect," the Jasper County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Further investigation revealed the suspect was armed with a gun during the traffic stop.  

The Jasper County Coroner's Office identified him as 42-year-old Matthew W. Huttle of Hobart, Indiana.

Huttle was charged with misdemeanor offenses after trespassing into the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Northwest Indiana Times reported Huttle was charged with recording his entry into the Capitol's Senate Wing and walking through several locations inside. Security footage was captured of Huttle on the first floor of the Capitol.

He was sentenced to six months in federal prison before he was released on July 17, the paper reported.

What they're saying:

Jasper County Sheriff Patrick Williamson released the following statement on the shooting: "For full transparency, I requested the Indiana State Police to investigate this officer involved shooting. The officer that is involved has been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol and is our policy in these situations. Our condolences go out to the family of the deceased as any loss of life is traumatic to those that were close to Mr. Huttle. I will release the officer's name once I have approval from the State Police Detectives."

ANALYSIS:  The first red flag is that there still has not been any dash cam or body cam videos released.  If these are still being held more than 48 hours after the fact, you can almost guarantee that the footage does not help the official line.  

The second red flag is that we have been given no reason for why the traffic stop was made.  A deputy cannot just make a traffic stop without a reason, and the fact that this was not readily available in the release indicates that the deputy is likely to have conducted an unlawful traffic stop.

The third red flag is that there was no underlying charge revealed that indicated the deputy was making a lawful arrest.  When the only charge in the release is resisting an arrest, one has to wonder just what the person was being arrested for in the first place.  Was the pardon so fresh that the police's information network still had an outstanding warrant out on Huttle for his J6 involvement?

According to the Justice Department's recap of what happened on J6, 2021 with the deceased:  "Matthew Huttle made his way into the Capitol Building at approximately 2:58 p.m., entering through doors next to the Senate Wing. He is believed to have exited the building briefly before re-entering at about 3:06 p.m. and remaining inside for another 10 minutes."

In other words, he was never accused of anything more than entering already-breached doors at the Capitol Building and served approximately 3 years in prison for the minor infraction.  Michael Huttle did not devolve into violence on January 6, 2021, and one would think he would not have done so on January 26, 2025.  The Ludington Torch believes that if and when the truth comes out on this, this unfortunate soul will be vindicated.

PJ Media would go further, and view Huttle’s death as part of a larger pattern of targeting Trump supporters, and suggest it has led to speculation about whether this was a tragic coincidence or something more sinister. Recent reports suggest that some judges have been pushing back on Trump’s pardons, refusing to dismiss the cases against various defendants.  Perhaps one of these rogue judges crafted new warrants for J6ers to continue their pattern of harassment.

[RK Hubbard]

Officer Grubb shot a pregnant woman for shoplifting (!) when he could have just stepped out of the way of her car. One can’t place oneself in personal danger and then blame someone else for the consequences. Stupid games, stupid prizes. 

A knife is a weapon. Period. I was stopped from entering the Library of Congress while carrying a 1.5 inch pocket knife. Federal security police mean business. You don't cross them. Officers could have begun violent resistance to rioters at the Capitol doors, but didn't. 

Finally, what does body size have to do with the ability to cause mayhem? Nothing.

[XLFD]

RK, allow me to use your most recent reasoning to go back to the original topic, the Huttle shooting at the traffic stop in Indiana.  The carefully worded press release by the sheriff states that: 

"During the traffic stop [for a civil infraction- speeding], a Jasper County sheriff's deputy attempted to arrest the suspect, but the suspect resisted."  Note, civil infractions are defined to not be crimes, and one cannot be arrested just for driving a little above the speed limit.  In the Grubb case, the two cops involved attempted to stop the woman for a criminal misdemeanor, but she resisted by getting in her car and trying to drive off.

"An altercation took place between the suspect and the officer, which resulted in the officer firing his weapon and fatally wounding the suspect."  Look up any definition of altercation and it means a noisy argument or discussion and maintains this in common use of that word, so Huttle was shot for arguing with the officer apparently.  He was not brandishing his weapon, because the release also admits that the gun was found only after additional investigation.  Thus, when you look at the official release, a viewpoint made solely by the agency that just killed a man, Huttle was shot for resisting an unlawful arrest (no crime by Huttle was admitted then ands since) and being argumentative during a traffic stop.

Contrarily, Grubb had reasonable suspicion that the woman had committed a crime and that she was ready to drive her car right into him, it's on video.  You defend her using the car for escape and as a weapon, but for Huttle you state:  "Huttle, a convicted violent felon with a long police record, was shot because he resisted arrest while armed with an illegal gun."  It just doesn't seem consistent.

[RK Hubbard]

An altercation can be physical or verbal. Given Huttle's record of violence, substance abuse, and resistance, likely it was physical. Getting into a physical altercation with a police officer while carrying an illegal firearm is stupid, because the result is certain to end up bad. Either you get arrested anyway, or you kill the cop and get life no parole, or the cop kills you. In the Grubb case, it could be argued that two officers pulling guns on a pregnant woman shoplifter is excessive use of force. Finally, every police interaction has its own nuances and it is the job of the legal system to adjudicate them. All of which is a perfect example of why we should wait for the results of the investigations and possible trials in both cases. 

[XLFD]

This article was about red flags in this incident, and the fact that the official version used the term 'altercation' without the adjective 'physical', is another red flag that suggests there was no physical altercation, or at worst, passive resistance.  Eleven days after the fact, the reason why video footage is still being withheld from the public is that the raw video is not favorable to the deputy or incriminating to Huttle. 

I don't trust any investigation where the investigators have decided to keep videos away from the public, and where the media is allowed to take pot shots at the shooting victim's past, while the deputy is left anonymous and unreviewable.  

[RK Hubbard]

Its ironic that if Trump hadn't pardoned Huttle he would still be in prison, alive and drug/alcohol free. But, given his lifestyle, probably not for long. Still, I hope the officers don't get qualified immunity, to which I am generally opposed.