Published: July 08, 2008 08:57 am      

Former cop sues Berea

BEREA — Former Berea Police Lt. Billy Beavers, who was acquitted of misconduct charges in January, filed suit against the city July 3.

Beavers, who has since taken a job with the Lancaster Police Department, is seeking re-instatement to his former job and recovery of lost pay and benefits.

He also is seeking unspecified damages for defamation, impairment of future earnings capacity and breach of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act.

Beavers, a former Police Officer of the Year in Berea who had served 12 years on the force, was suspended and then fired in early August 2007 after internal investigations by the Berea and Richmond police departments.

The next month, a Madison County grand jury indicted Beavers on first-degree official misconduct and fourth-degree assault charges, both misdemeanors. He allegedly kicked 40-year-old James Hunt of Lexington at the end of a police pursuit and then failed to file a use-of-force report.

Hunt was the passenger in a car driven by James Barker, 26, of Olive Hill, that had been pursued in the early morning hours of July 4, 2007, by Richmond police from just past the Blue Grass Army Depot to Jackson Street in Berea.

In January, a Madison District Court jury convicted Beavers of second-degree official misconduct and fined him $1. The assault charged had been dismissed before the trial.

Special Judge Michael Harrod sentenced Beavers immediately after the trial, giving him one year to pay the fine.

In March, however, Harrod overturned the conviction, writing that he should have granted motions for a directed verdict of acquittal that Beavers’ attorney requested after the prosecution rested its case and again at the conclusion of the trail.

Beavers’ civil suit, filed by former Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo, names Berea Mayor Steven Connelly and Police Chief Dwayne Brumley as defendants with the city, both individually and jointly.

Connelly was unavailable Monday afternoon, and Brumley said he could not comment. City Attorney J.T. Gilbert had no comment, except to say that the city would file a response in the allotted 20 days.

The suit claims that Beavers used “reasonable and necessary force” to arrest Hunt, who “resisted” police officers’ orders.

The suit also claims that Beavers’ superiors failed to:

• Advise him of his rights;

• Obtain a required signed statement from him;

• Maintain his privacy during the internal investigation;

• Provide written notice of charges; and/or

• Give him a hearing before terminating his employment.

The defendants “unlawfully, intentionally and maliciously failed to protect” Beavers’ rights to due process under state and federal law, including the Kentucky Police Officers’ Bill of Rights, the suit claims.

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 623-1669, Ext. 267.