Kentucky cop fired for sharing tactics, inside info on fellow officers with BLM protest leader

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A Kentucky police officer who shared insider police documents with a Black Lives Matter extremist last summer and talked trash about his colleagues behind their backs is now without a job.

Around the time of the George Floyd riots last May, then-Lexington Police Department officer Jervis Middleton forwarded internal documents to local BLM extremist Sarah Williams. The documents advised department employees on upcoming “protests” and laid out the tactics that would be used to keep the protests from devolving into riots.

“Officer Middleton … provided official Lexington Police Department law enforcement sensitive information via screen shots of text messages and emails that gave away information on tactics the agency was, or were, planning to use, when controlling the nightly protest,” a department memo released this week to station WLEX explains.

He also talked trash about his colleagues and tried to humiliate them.

“Throughout this time period it appears that Officer Jervis Middleton advised Ms. Williams that certain officers and command staff were ‘racists’ and directed her to call them out during the protest,” the memo continues.

“There are also incidents where Officer Middleton actively encouraged Ms. Williams curse out and use the personal information he provided in a manner to embarrass the officers involved.”

The department discovered all this after they arrested Williams in June in connection with the oftentimes violent George Floyd “protests” and subsequently obtained a search warrant on her cell phone and Facebook account.

View the memo below:

Or-21-302 PIU 20-134 – Summ… by LEX18News

Now fast-forward to Friday, when the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted unanimously to fire Middleton in line with a recommendation from police chief Lawrence Weathers, who like Middleton is black.

The vote occurred after a reportedly emotional hearing during which Middleton tried to argue that firing him would amount to a violation of his First Amendment rights.

“Middleton … argued that he shouldn’t be terminated from the Lexington Police Department because the information he provided was covered by free speech and did not jeopardize the safety of officers,” according to the Associated Press.

“His lawyers said he faced racial discrimination at the agency and was frustrated because his concerns about racism hadn’t been addressed.”

Weathers reportedly disagreed, in part because this was Middleton’s second offense.

“I felt like the discipline he received last time should have been a message to him and allow him to come back and become the officer that I know he can be. After this, I just can’t see him coming back,” he reportedly said.

WLEX notes that three years ago, Middleton “was accused of using police resources to get information about a woman with whom he previously had a relationship.” While he was ultimately acquitted on the charge, he was still demoted for bad behavior.

“To me, it was a violation of trust and a violation of the position of a police officer. He was supposed to protect the public, but he should also protect his fellow officers,” Weathers continued.

He added that race didn’t factor into his decision.

Plucked from the department’s memo, below is one batch of text messages that were exchanged between Middleton and Williams in April. Read it carefully, and keep an eye out for the slur “pigs.”

Middleton has for his part claimed that he’d simply been “venting” his frustrations to Williams and that she’d “had an understanding that she was not to use any information he provided,” according to the memo.

As such, his lawyers reportedly argued during Friday’s hearing that his behavior led to no actual harm.

“The only harm is imagined harm,” was how his attorney, Keith Sparks, reportedly put it.

The American Civil Liberties Union appears to agree. The far-left organization issued a statement Friday predictably claiming that the real violation is the Lexington Police Department’s alleged use of excessive force.

Look:

“Middleton’s actions may warrant some level of discipline, but it’s concerning he was more swiftly investigated and harshly punished for sharing non-critical information than officers who use excessive force or create the culture of racism and hostility he reported to no avail,” the ACLU complained.

It added, “Additionally, dialogue between police & protesters – the action Middleton has been fired for – can decrease conflict.”

Except that the so-called “dialogue” not only involved sensitive police information but also disparaging remark about his colleagues and the slur “pigs.”

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