Two Kentucky cops who spent a year on duty throwing soft drinks at innocent people from their unmarked cars while in uniform were sentenced to spend time in federal prison just over a year ago.
This past week, the videos they took of their actions were finally released and they are shocking, to say the least.
Could you imagine getting pelted in the face with a frozen drink by a man who took an oath to defend you and your community?
Scores of residents of Louisville experienced the icy insults from 2018 to 2019, which landed Louisville Metro Police Department Detectives Curt Flynn and Bryan Wilson both in hot water – and ultimately behind bars, according to WDRB-TV in Louisville.
In October 2022, Flynn, then 40, and Wilson, then 36, were sent to federal prison for three and 30 months, respectively.
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Wilson got the stiffer sentence for a separate charge of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking, according to WDRB. Prosecutors said he harassed and extorted threatening to release stolen photos and videos if they didn’t comply with his demands.
According to WDRB, the federal judge who sent them both to prison on civil rights violations called their actions so “egregious” that it shocked his conscious.
A year later, following Freedom of Information Act requests, the actions of these two officers are on display for the world to see.
The men drove around the Louisville area for a year terrorizing pedestrians and laughing about it. Both men are white. Their targets were in the predominantly black neighborhoods of the city, according to the Louisville Courier Journal report on their sentencing in 2022.
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In one video of many that the two sworn peace officers made, they asked a woman for change before dousing her in a slushy.
“Hey baby, you got change for a dollar?” one of the officers asked the woman.
He then said, “How about a drink?” before he threw his soft drink all over her.
The WDRB report is below:
Other clips show the cops either hurling the contents of their drinks at unsuspecting people or throwing their cups at them – often hitting their targets.
Locals in the city and area have called the actions of Flynn and Wilson “Slushy Gate.”
One video obtained by “Inside Edition” showed the two officers also enjoyed swerving into puddles to drench people who were minding their own business at bus stops in the area.
The misbehavior was allegedly not limited to street interactions.
According to a WDRB report from June, a Louisville woman is suing the police department claiming that Wilson hacked into her Snapchat account, stole compromising pictures, then used those pictures to try to extort her for sexually explicit pictures involving a bra or a thong.
The lawsuit claims he used police department technology to access her information.
In addition, according to WDRB, five other members of the Louisville police force were disciplined “for their roles in the incidents, such as helping to film or drive for the encounters, sharing laughs in a group chat and failing to report the conduct.”
Obviously, the actions of tainted officers and detectives don’t represent the law enforcement community as a whole. But sadly and predictably, the videos are being used by anti-police activists to further their lawless agendas.
But calling out bad apples is important for those of us who back the blue to ensure that American police forces are staffed by the best and the brightest – and not immature man-children who will betray their badges and laugh about it.
Policing is difficult work, without a doubt. The hours are long, the pay could certainly be better and any call can end in death or great bodily injury.
But there are better ways to deal with stress than childish and dehumanizing activities such as soaking your city’s citizens in cold, sticky soft drinks.
In the case of Flynn and Wilson, the officers damaged relations between a city plagued by crime and those whose job it is to protect the innocent.
They not only victimized the innocent people they vowed to protect, they did harm to their department.
Those in the Louisville Metro Police Department who show up to work every day with every intention of serving their community will be the ones who will have to build bridges in addition to doing a job that was already difficult enough.
