Police

Kentucky Police Are Completely Awful

Local police spring a prisoner and send him on a one-way trip out of state... despite a court order.

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Not to mention apparently contemptuous.

Back in April, a mentally troubled man named Adam Horine stood before a judge pleading for help, asking to be placed in a hospital. The judge hearing the matter, Carroll District Judge Elizabeth Chandler, agreed and ordered a mental health evaluation and a stay at the local hospital for further treatment.

After handing down this order, according to a horrifying in-depth report by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, the police took a different tack and sent the mentally ill man to Florida, buying him a one-way bus ticket and driving him 50 miles in a police vehicle to catch his Greyhound.

The hell?

Look, it’s admirable to relocate all your homeless people to Florida… IF IT’S JANUARY IN FARGO. If it’s April in Kentucky and in defiance of a court order, then there’s not really much excuse.

Once Horine was charged with a crime and began his trek through the system, his fate should have remained in the hands of the court, [Associate dean and a professor of criminal law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law David] Harris said.

“And to have a police officer come in and simply say, ‘No, we’re not having him get a mental-health evaluation, you’re just getting out of here. You’re too much trouble. We don’t want you here. You’re leaving.’ I’m sorry, that’s not allowed. They don’t have the power to do that.”

If there’s a theme to the last several months of cable news coverage, it’s that the police rarely have the power to do a lot of things, but that doesn’t stop them. There should be a lot of checks on police conduct — stuff like the Constitution, criminal statutes, internal regulations, etc. — but at the very least, “direct court orders” should count for something.

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In this case, the report gathered surveillance footage and police paperwork that show a police force seemingly fully aware of the court order and determined to ignore it, making references to taking Horine to his ordered examination while on camera before taking off for the bus station once beyond the prying eyes and ears. What’s more, all evidence suggests this wasn’t the work of a rogue cop, but a plan cooked up by the chief himself.

Recognizing the potential conflicts involved in asking a local prosecutor’s office to bring charges against the leadership of the local police force, the local prosecutor has requested a special prosecutor from the AG’s office to handle the matter. Apparently the Carroll County prosecutor, Nick Marsh, possesses that modicum of honor and respectability lacking in, say, Dan Donovan or Bob McCulloch.

Today, Horine is back in Kentucky. Unfortunately, to get him back where he was supposed to be all along, the Commonwealth of Kentucky had to charge him with a new crime to secure extradition. Which was, of course, escape from jail.

At least whoever prosecutes that one will be hard-pressed not to indict the cops for aiding and abetting.

Police in Kentucky Town Ship Mentally Ill Man to Florida, Defying Judge’s Order [Kentucky Center For Investigative Reporting]

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