GREENWOOD, Ind. — An officer with the Greenwood Police Department has resigned before he faced a disciplinary hearing later this month.
According to a news release from the city of Greenwood, Elijah Allen resigned from the department on Thursday. Allen’s scheduled disciplinary hearing for Oct. 30 has been canceled.
This comes after thousands of instant messages were uncovered between a number of Greenwood police officers that included anti-Semitic, racial and homophobic rhetoric, as well as sexually explicit content.
The uncovering of the messages, which were sent between July 14, 2021 and July 14, 2023, caused the resignation of three officers, including Tyler Kintzele, Zane Hennig and Jacob Hagist, as well as the initial suspension of Allen and Samuel Bowen.
The officers were accused of violating the Greenwood Police Department’s “information technology use” policy, its “mobile data center use” policy and the department’s “standards of conduct” policy.
According to previous reports, Bowen was terminated from his position by a unanimous vote during a disciplinary hearing on Oct. 12. This comes as a federal lawsuit Bowen brought forward against James Ison, the Greenwood police chief, claiming that Ison retaliated against Bowen after he participated in online discussions surrounding Indiana’s 2023 primary election.
In these online conversations, Bowen said the Greenwood Police Department had a “perceived lack of transparency in reporting criminal activity.” Bowen also claimed there were “alleged attempts by incumbent Mayor Mark Myers, a candidate for reelection in the primary, and Ison to downplay the reporting of violent crime in the city.”
The city of Greenwood and the department have since responded to the lawsuit, stating that they were unaware of these messages and that their decisions were not in retaliation against Bowen for participating in those conversations.
The parties requested a March 2025 date for Bowen’s trial. Officials said that the jury trial is expected to take three days.
