Elite Kentucky Cops Throw Slushies at Pedestrians
- Video footage shows Kentucky police offers throwing slushies at pedestrians.
- The videos were obtained by the Louisville Courier Journal under Kentucky's open records law.
- The officers were part of an elite drug and gun unit in Louisville.
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Video footage obtained by the Louisville Courier Journal shows Kentucky police officers throwing slushies at pedestrians.
The two officers, Curtis Flynn, 40, and Bryan Wilson, 36, filmed themselves in 2018 and 2019 as they patrolled the streets in an unmarked police car and carried out the attacks.
They shared the videos, which were obtained by the Courier Journal under Kentucky's open records law, with colleagues in group messages and by showing them the videos during breaks, the Courier Journal reported.
"That's really bad. And it's such a petty way, that it makes it almost worse, because it does reflect horrible contempt for the community," Peter Moskos, a former police officer who is now a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said, per the report.
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Both officers pleaded guilty to civil rights violations.
In October 2022, Flynn and Wilson were sentenced to three months and 30 months in prison respectively, the Courier Journal reported.
The report says that at least five other officers in the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) who were aware of Flynn and Wilson's actions had kept their jobs.
Flynn and Wilson were part of an elite squad that was tasked with preventing drug and gun crime in Louisville.
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But their unit had developed a reputation for brutality and abusing authority, the Courier Journal reported.
"The reputation was they were getting a lot of guns off the street. They were making a lot of arrests," LMPD Deputy Chief Steve Healey said, per the report.
"You didn't really hear about all of the other stuff until you would see the news reports come out, you would see the complaints come out," he added.
In March, the Department of Justice released a report on civil rights violations by the LMPD.
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It found that the force engaged "in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law," including using "excessive force," discriminating against Black people while carrying out its duties, and "unlawfully" arresting people.
"The findings are deeply troubling and sobering, and they compromise LMPD's ability to serve and protect the people of Louisville," Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a press release. "We are committed to working with Louisville on a path forward to constitutional policing and stronger police-community trust."
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