‘Culture plagued by racial discrimination.’ Lawsuit by fired officer blasts Lexington police.

Beth Musgrave

A Black former Lexington officer who was fired earlier this year alleges in a lawsuit filed Friday that his termination was the result of unchecked racial bias and discrimination within the Lexington Police Department and alleges his due process and First Amendment Rights were violated.

Jervis Middleton was fired by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council in February after being found guilty on two counts of violating department orders related to providing information to racial justice protesters who were calling for more police accountability in the wake of the police killings of Breonna Taylor in Louisville and George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Middleton had previously filed a lawsuit in March appealing his termination.

The lawsuit filed Friday is a separate action. It asks for unspecified monetary damages and also asks Middleton be reinstated.

The lawsuit was filed by Sam Aguiar, a Louisville lawyer who represented the family of Taylor in a lawsuit against the city of Louisville that resulted in a record-setting $12 million settlement.

“The Lexington Police Department, for years, has covered up a culture plagued by racial discrimination against Black officers and citizens. The department condones white officers engaging in unimaginable acts. They always keep their jobs, most of the time without even a slap on the wrist,” Aguiar said.

As a policy, the city of Lexington does not comment on ongoing lawsuits.

The lawsuit alleges Middleton worked in a hostile work environment, was retaliated against for supporting Black Lives Matter and that the Lexington Police Department made various errors in presenting administrative charges against Middleton in violation of his due process rights.

The 73-page lawsuit alleges a long history of disparate treatment of white and Black officers. The lawsuit also alleges Middleton was singled out for termination because of his race while white officers accused of much graver offenses continue to work for the department.

The lawsuit also alleges complaints about racial discrimination from Black and minority residents are routinely dismissed.

‘Token’ officer, other discrimination alleged

The lawsuit alleges a pattern of discrimination against Middleton.

“Jervis, while employed with LPD, was subjected to a hostile work environment in which unwelcomed racial harassment towards him and throughout the department was repeated and pervasive,” the lawsuit alleges.

Some of those allegations include that an officer told him to turn his “black a** face around.” That he was repeatedly referred to as the “token” officer and pet of the police chief. The Fraternal Order of Police filed a grievance concerning those allegations of racial discrimination. That grievance was dropped as part of a settlement of a prior discipline action against Middleton.

Middleton was acquitted in February 2019 by a Fayette District Court jury of official misconduct after he was accused of using police computers to get information about a woman who had accused him of stalking and spying on her after their sexual relationship ended.

But the department pursued an internal disciplinary case against Middleton. As part of that settlement, Middleton agreed to be demoted from sergeant to police officer.

The department knew of the allegations but failed to launch a human resources investigation into them until recently, the lawsuit alleges.

Due process and First Amendment violations

The lawsuit also alleges the Lexington Police Department failed to follow its own internal procedures during the investigation into whether Middleton leaked sensitive information to protesters this summer.

Middleton was supposed to receive a formal complaint in writing within 21 days. That did not happen, the lawsuit says. Middleton was also supposed to be given 48-hour notice of the copy of the formal complaint and the specific allegations he faced. That did not happen, the lawsuit alleges. Formal charges had to be filed by the city’s Department of Law within 60 days of receipt of the police chief’s recommended discipline.

That also did not happen, the lawsuit alleges.

Also, Middleton was also initially only charged with one count of misconduct. The other two charges Middleton faced were added after Middleton had been interrogated by the public integrity unit. Those additional charges were added after Lexington Police Chief Lawrence Weathers and an internal disciplinary review board had met.

“The presentation of additional charges against Jervis following the disciplinary process violates” both state law and the department’s own general orders, the lawsuit alleges.

Police said during the February disciplinary hearing that they obtained communications between Middelton and activist and protest organizer Sarah Williams by obtaining a warrant for her phone and for her Facebook pages after she was arrested while walking to her car after a protest had concluded.

Middleton alleges any information he passed along to Williams was largely public information. Other information he passed to Williams regarding certain officers who worked those protests is protected by the First Amendment. Some of the information was about officers who had been previously accused of misconduct.

“These white officers, along with others, are causing serious physical and emotional injuries to Lexington citizens and are still wearing a badge,” Aguiar said. “ When Jervis, a Black officer, called them out for it, he was fired. What LPD did to Jervis was wrong on so many levels.”

No one was hurt during the protests nor were any officers, the lawsuit says.

Discrimination complaints dismissed

The lawsuit alleges the Lexington Police Department routinely dismisses racial bias complaints made by Black citizens.

Between 2017 and 2019, the lawsuit alleges there were at least 30 documented informal complaints made against white Lexington police officers concerning racial bias. All but two were dismissed as “unfounded” by Lexington police.

The remaining two complaints were “resolved with citizens” according to internal documents. No discipline was imposed, the lawsuit alleges.

As an example, the lawsuit alleges Officer Jesse Mascoe has been repeatedly reported for racial bias and profiling by Black citizens. From 2018 to 2019, Mascoe had at least 16 different informal complaints filed against him, most involved Black citizens, the lawsuit alleges.

According to the lawsuit, some of those complaints include:

  • Jan 15, 2018. Complaint of assaulting a Black male. Mascoe was given a letter of counseling for not activating his body camera.

  • June 28, 218. Complaint of on-going pattern of targeting Black citizens. No discipline.

  • Aug. 3, 2018. Complaint of harassment during traffic stop involving a Black male. No discipline.

  • Aug. 28, 2018. Complaint of pulling over Black citizens without probable cause, calling a K9 unit, (No narcotics were found). No discipline

  • Oct. 13, 2018. Complaint of a Black male being pulled over three separate times and harassed by Mascoe. No discipline

  • Dec. 6, 2018. Complaint by Black female pulled over for “excessive tint” —dark tinted windows— who was detained and a K9 unit was called to search the vehicle. No narcotics were found.

  • March 26, 2019. Mascoe drove in opposing lanes of traffic without emergency lights. Mascoe received a written reprimand and two week suspension of his home fleet privileges, meaning he cannot use his police car for personal use.

  • March 26, 2019. Mascoe failed to give Miranda warnings and engaged in an improper search and frisk. Substantiated by department. Charges against the suspect were dismissed.

  • April 19, 2019. Black male complains about harassment by Mascoe during traffic stop. Male said he has been stopped before by Mascoe. No discipline.

  • May 5, 2019. Mother complained Mascoe had removed her minor Black son from vehicle, searched and handcuffed him. Lt. Jeremy Tuttle, who had repeatedly not disciplined Mascoe in the prior complaints, found that there was no basis for the stop. No discipline was imposed.

  • May 27, 2019. Mascoe pursued a vehicle with “excessive tint,” resulting in a crash with a third vehicle. Mascoe was suspended for 60 days.

Even after the pursuit incident, there were three other informal complaints against Mascoe, according to the lawsuit. A review of data from 2017 until 2019 shows that 75 percent of Mascoe’s stops that resulted in citations were of Black citizens, the lawsuit alleges.

Mascoe remains on the force.

Tuttle is the same officer who filed a formal complaint that led to Middleton’s dismissal, the lawsuit alleges.

Police won’t allow formal complaints

Informal complaints are not investigated by the department’s public integrity unit. The complaint is sent to the officer’s supervisor. Lexington police do not allow citizens access to blank formal complaint forms.

The Kentucky Open Government coalition, a group that advocates for open records, recently sent an Open Records Request for a blank form 111, a formal complaint form. The police department sent the group a copy, but it was blacked out so it could not be filled out, said Amye Bensenhaver, a member of the group.

April Taylor, a community organizer, has asked repeatedly for a blank formal complaint form and has also been denied.

Other officers accused, still on the force

Former police chaplain Donovan Stewart was accused and seen on video striking a Black autistic teen in February 2019. A criminal case was filed against the teen so an internal investigation into Stewart’s conduct was put on hold. Stewart retired before the investigation was concluded, the lawsuit said.

Other incidents where white officers were accused of serious misconduct but remain on the force include:

  • A white officer who pulled a gun on a woman he was dating after finding out she was dating a Black man. No discipline.

  • A white officer who drove under the influence on multiple occasions. His assigned police cruiser was wrecked on one of those occasions, followed by the officer delaying blood alcohol testing for four hours. The officer received a 60-day suspension.

  • A white officer who committed excessive force when dragging a suspect from a police cruiser, shoving him and putting his hands on the suspect’s throat. The officer received a three-week suspension.

  • A white officer who got intoxicated, left her gun unattended for several hours, got into a physical altercation at a wedding party, striking a person several times in the head and face and then got in an altercation with the father of the man who just got married. The officer received a 20-hour suspension.

  • Two white officers who shared pictures of their genitals to private citizens or on public forums were suspended. The only information publicly released and presented to the Lexington council at the time their discipline was approved was that the men were suspended for “inappropriate conduct.”

Aguiar said the information about the disciplinary actions was obtained through Open Records Act requests.

“There was no legitimate basis for LPD to impose discipline upon Jervis which was so heavily disparate in comparison with similar, and much more egregious, violations of White LPD members,” the lawsuit alleges.

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She told me of others she recruited and she thought it was funny.”“I have fear speaking here today, even anonymously,” Doe said, adding, “I know what she has done. I know how many lives that she has ruined. And because I know this, I know she has nothing to lose, has no remorse, and will never admit what she has done.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.