Two former Louisville Metro Police officers have been convicted of federal civil rights violations after throwing drinks from their unmarked squad cars at people in Louisville’s West End, according to the US Department of Justice, one of the officers pleading guilty to additional cyberstalking charges.
Bryan Andrew Wilson, 36, and Curt Flynn, 40, both pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of conspiring to violate the civil rights of Louisville pedestrians through the arbitrary use of force. Wilson also pleaded guilty in the cyberstalking case, in which he is accused of threatening to post incriminating photos or videos of women unless they provide additional incriminating evidence.
Wilson and Flynn are both scheduled to be sentenced on September 30. Wilson faces a combined maximum sentence of 15 years in prison on both counts, while Flynn faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
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Both Wilson and Flynn were working as detectives in the Ninth Mobile Division from August 2018 to September 2019 when they threw large drinks, including the container, at walking civilians, according to a department statement.
The two – joined by others who were not named in the statement – threw the drinks while dressed in LMPD uniforms and driving unmarked LMPD vehicles. They would bring the drinks into their cars and after identifying a target, they would drive the LMPD vehicle closer to the person, before announcing over the police radio that “someone was thirsty” or “fam thirsty”, according to the press release.
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After throwing the drink, the driver of the LMPD vehicle would flee. On numerous occasions people were hit with the drink and on at least one occasion a person was knocked down after being hit, the statement said.
The assaults were also recorded either by the detectives or by other participants “sometimes from inside the car from which the drink was thrown, and sometimes from an LMPD car closely following the car from which the drink was thrown. drink was launched,” the statement read.
“Wilson then showed these videos to other members of the LMPD’s Ninth Mobile Unit,” he said.
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In the separate case, Wilson pleaded guilty and admitted to stealing incriminating photos and videos of women, then texting them threatening to publish them unless they sent him more material. He was able to steal the photos by hacking into female-owned computer applications, the statement said.
“Throughout the cyberstalking plot, Wilson had at least six female victims from whom he stole photographs, videos and other compromising information and attempted to extort additional material under threat of publication,” the report reads. communicated.
Court documents say the robbery and threats against the women occurred between September and October 2020.
News of the recorded drink assaults came to light in June 2021, which LMPD chief Erika Shields called at the time “another black eye for the department”. Shields told Metro Council members at the time that the two officers had been reassigned to the office and a federal investigation was underway.
Councilwoman Jessica Green, D-1st District, said at the time that she was “very disturbed” by the case, calling it sickening and disgusting.
“I am very disturbed by the idea of narcotics detectives throwing snow cones at homeless black people in West Louisville,” said Green, who has since been sworn in as a County Circuit Court judge. Jefferson. “I hope no one finds excuses for this kind of behavior.”
Bryan and Wilson mark the third and fourth LMPD officers to be federally charged in about a year.
Former officer Cory Evans was charged in June 2021 with disenfranchisement after he was found guilty of bludgeoning an unarmed protester and kneeling it on the head with a wooden riot baton, then d repeatedly lied to his superiors about this.
He pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced in February to two years.
In March, former officer Katie Crews was charged by the federal government with using unreasonable force before the shooting death of West End barbecue stall owner David McAtee.
Crews is accused of depriving a person named MM of his constitutional rights “to be free from unreasonable seizure, which includes the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer”.
This story can be updated.
Contact reporter Krista Johnson at [email protected]