Estate of Monica Vaught Reaches Settlement With City of Greenwood After Fatal 2022 Police Shooting

On the night of March 29, 2022, Greenwood police received a report of a possibly intoxicated driver near Madison Avenue and County Line Road. Officers pursued the vehicle to the police department parking lot at 186 Surina Way. There, four officers opened fire after they said the driver, Monica W. Vaught, drove her car toward one of them. Vaught, 49, was struck 12 times. Seven of those shots were fired from behind.

No criminal charges followed. The Johnson County Prosecutor reviewed the incident and concluded that the officers' actions qualified under self-defense or defense of another. The department's internal review reached the same finding. Vaught's estate disputed those conclusions, arguing the force used was disproportionate and inconsistent with accepted law enforcement standards.

In September 2023, the estate filed a civil lawsuit in Johnson Superior Court 1, alleging the four officers, Sgt. Brandon Cox, Officer Elijah Allan, Officer Ben Louzon, and Officer Zane Hennig, used excessive force in violation of Monica Vaught's constitutional rights and caused her death. The case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in October 2023.

Chase Wilson of Hurst Limontes LLC and Indiana Civil Rights LLC, along with co-counsel Brandon Tate of Waldron Tate Land LLC, litigated the matter through discovery and into summary judgment briefing. The central questions before the court were whether the officers reasonably perceived an imminent threat at the moment they fired and whether the volume and direction of the gunfire were constitutionally permissible.

On February 21, 2025, while the summary judgment motion was still pending, the City of Greenwood agreed to a settlement with the estate. The dollar amount is confidential. The case closed without a trial.