South Bend Mayor James Mueller has received a response to his March 13 letter to Special Prosecutor Ric Hertel requesting clarifications and the release of additional information and evidence from the investigation into the death of Eric Logan. However, Mueller did not receive any answers.

Hertel said he would not release the evidence due to the extensive summary of the investigation’s findings and a pending lawsuit filed by the Logan family against the city and the officer who shot Logan, Ryan O’Neill.

A criminal case against O’Neill unrelated to Eric Logan’s death is pending in state court. That case stems from charges of misconduct charges, ghost employment, and public indecency. He’s accused of soliciting a prostitute and lying about it.

“I appreciate the conversation with the Special Prosecutor and receiving a response to my letter but am disappointed that he is declining to provide additional information and clarification at this time,” said Mayor James Mueller. “Our community deserves to have these answers to our questions about what happened the night of Eric Logan’s death. The Special Prosecutor informed me that the Logan family will have access to the underlying evidence as part of the pending legal proceedings in federal court. My administration will continue to push to have as much of that information released to the public as the law will allow.”

Logan was shot and killed by O’Neill in June of 2019 in the area of Williams and Colfax after O’Neill responded to a call about car break-ins and encountered Logan who was armed with a knife and lunged at O’Neill, who then shot him.

Mueller wanted the prosecutor to clarify some points and release evidence from the case, including having the prosecutor clarify how he determined former O’Neill was justified in using deadly force.

In addition, he asked Hertel to release evidence he used to come to his determination no charges should be filed against O’Neill.

The questions came after a heated meeting, in March, when Mueller met with the public regarding the decision not to pursue criminal charges against former officer O’Neill.

The meeting started with messages of support from city officials to Logan’s family, included an opening statement from the mayor, and then they took questions; which is where things got emotional.

Most of the questions revolved around a desire to know exactly what evidence the special prosecutor found to exonerate O’Neill of any wrongdoing.