For several days in a row, Sgt. Lance Dardeen’s squad car was the only transportation an Indianapolis man was comfortable riding in.
The two went to the grocery store, doctor’s appointments and errands around Central Indiana, making small talk, side by side in the front.
Dardeen said the man, who he said suffered from schizophrenia, wouldn’t leave the house and didn’t have groceries.
“He was very comfortable with me because I was protecting him as I was able to take him grocery shopping because he would only get [in] a marked police car,” Dardeen said. “That’s how scared this individual was.”
It’s a typical run for Dardeen as a member of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s Behavioral Health Services Unit.