Man charged with terrorizing employees, patrons of Jeffersonville businesses

Aug. 3—JEFFERSONVILLE — Police records show a man is accused of terrorizing people at two separate Jeffersonville businesses just days apart.

Austin Dreyer is charged with felonies for intimidation connected to these separate cases that occurred last month.

Victims at the McDonald's restaurant along Indiana Avenue, along with victims at a business along Spring Street in downtown Jeffersonville, said Dreyer threatened them and used vulgar language.

According to the probable cause affidavits in these cases, Dreyer was first arrested by Jeffersonville Police at the McDonald's on July 18.

JPD said Dreyer was observed acting erratically in the restaurant by "shouting inside the store, cursing loudly and calling surrounding individuals racial slurs."

Management at the restaurant provided police with video footage of the suspect yelling at workers and behaving in a threatening manner. Police said they saw food on the floor and sauces on the wall thrown by Dreyer.

Employees said Dreyer was throwing food around the store and threatening staff.

A victim told police Dreyer said, "Try that again and I'm going to kill you," to them, while he told another employee he'd "beat his (expletive.)"

Dreyer was in court on July 19 and released on his own recognizance.

On July 28 a person at a business on Spring Street in downtown Jeffersonville called police and stated Dreyer was threatening to "beat (her) up."

The victim told police she was at the location and Dreyer was using expletives when communicating with her, called her derogatory names and made crude remarks when she told him she wasn't scared of him.

A second victim was in front of the business during the incident and told Dreyer she'd call the police.

That victim said he then allegedly threatened to attack her and was yelling vulgar language at her and the juvenile relative she was with at the time.

Police said once they arrested Dreyer he began acting disorderly and that continued as he was processed at the jail, where he called one of the victims a "crackhead."

Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull told the News and Tribune that his office tried to get Dreyer held on a bond at the Clark County Jail after the first offense.

Court records show Clark County Magistrate Jeffrey Branstetter released Dreyer on his own recognizance.

"As the Clark County Prosecutor I try very hard to make sure that downtown Jeffersonville is a safe place that our merchants and business owners are able to operate their businesses in safely," Mull said. "In this situation after Mr. Dreyer was arrested for terrorizing employees and customers of a local downtown business, I sent my deputy to court with instructions to ask that he be kept in jail. However, over my objection, the magistrate released the defendant on his own recognizance without requiring him to post any bond. Thereafter, and within a day or two of that release, the defendant was allegedly right back downtown terrorizing citizens, including a small child, at another downtown Jeffersonville business."

Branstetter told the News and Tribune that the Indiana Code of Judicial Conduct prohibits him from making comments about a pending matter.

Court records show that Dreyer was held on a $5,000 bond following that offense.

Records from the Clark County jail indicate he is still incarcerated there as of Thursday morning.

Mull said that Indiana law does allow for defendants in these situations to be held in jail.

"It is my strong contention as Clark County prosecutor that when individuals are engaging in behaviors such as this, that they need to be held in jail until such time as steps can be taken to assure that the public is safe from that individual," Mull said.