Black Indiana Deputy Forced to Fight During ‘State-Sponsored Hazing’ Ritual Dies After Lying Motionless on Mat While Other Matches Continued, Lawsuit Says

The widow of a deputy sheriff who died during a training exercise last year is suing the Evansville Police Department and the Knox County Sheriff’s Department in Indiana, claiming the “hazing-styled exercise” featuring rough combat that put the new recruit in unnecessary danger and led to his death. Representing her late husband Asson Hacker’s estate, Kourtney Hacker filed the wrongful death lawsuit in Vanderburgh Superior Court on Sept. 3. Hacker, 33, died on March 2, 2023, after participating in a training event called “The Big Fight” at Club Bushido, a martial arts center, a mandatory part of his basic training with the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office. Asson Hacker of Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office, Indiana, died on March 2, 2023. (Photo: The Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc) According to the complaint, obtained by Atlanta Black Star, “The Big Fight” required cadet recruits to square off inside a “fighting circle” of spectators against veteran officers in an “MMA or UFC style fight” intended to last five minutes. Hacker was assigned to fight Maj. Michael Fisher, who worked for the Knox County Sheriff’s Department and also served as an instructor for the Southwest Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Evansville, operated by the Evansville...