‘This could be my time.’ Man’s excessive force claim against UK officer rejected by jury

A federal jury has ruled in favor of a University of Kentucky police officer accused of excessive force in a 2016 arrest outside Chandler hospital.

The jury deliberated only 30 minutes before returning the unanimous verdict Wednesday in favor of UK Police Lt. Randall Webb.

Darrell Leath, 40, of Lexington had claimed his constitutional rights were violated, and had sought $5,000 in compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages from Webb. The jury also rejected Leath’s claims of assault and battery.

“We are pleased that the jury recognized Lt. Webb did nothing wrong and are pleased with the victory,” said UK spokesman Jay Blanton.

“Our purpose in bringing this case was to protect our client’s constitutional rights and hold law enforcement to a higher standard in their interactions with the public,” said Leath’s attorney Adrian Mendiondo of Morgan & Morgan in Lexington. “We are disappointed in the jury’s decision, but we respect it, and value the right to have brought this claim on behalf of our client. “

Leath testified that after he was handcuffed and was compliant, Webb grabbed his face and jerked his head to the right.

“I was feeling like this could be my time,” Leath said Tuesday in response to questioning from Mendiondo. “I didn’t know what was going on.”

“He didn’t actually strangle you by the throat?” asked Webb’s attorney, Joshua Salsburey during cross-examination.

“He pulled me off my feet,” Leath said.

Salsburey said the grab “lasted only a few seconds.”

“I don’t know how long it lasted. It lasted too long,” Leath said.

Webb, who was a sergeant at the time of the arrest, said he grabbed Leath because he thought Leath was about to spit on or bite UK officer Emily Faulkner, who was among several officers present.

Leath testified that Webb told him, “Look at her again like that.”

Faulkner, now employed by Richmond police, was in training at the time with UK police.

Faulkner testified that she didn’t see Webb grab Leath, and she only peripherally saw Leath move forward.

The arrest happened on Jan. 2, 2016, after Leath went to UK Hospital to see his cousin, 29-year-old Joseph Allen McDowell, who had been shot and later died of his injuries. McDowell was Lexington’s first homicide victim of 2016.

Leath became upset when police told him that only immediate family could see McDowell and told Leath to leave.

Leath and his father left the lobby. But outside Leath continued to be belligerent and yelled profanities. Upon his arrest, he threatened to sue the officers.

Police charged Leath with three felony counts of assault against police officers, disorderly conduct, alcohol intoxication and terroristic threatening.

A Fayette Circuit Court jury acquitted Leath on the assault charges but he was found guilty on the other charges.

In his closing argument in In the U.S. District Court trial, Mendiondo said that while Leath was crude in his litany of profanities, “he was compliant and he did not resist.”

Mendiondo said the force used against Leath “was unnecessary. It was unreasonable.”

But Salsburey, Webb’s attorney, said long before any officer touched Leath, “he decided he would get paid.”

Salsburey said Leath was not physically injured, which had to be proven in order to find in favor of Leath’s claim of excessive force.

“He does not deserve to get paid anything. Not one cent,” Salsburey told jurors.

The five men and three women on the jury agreed, deliberating from 10:15 a.m. to 10:44 a.m., according to the court record.

U.S. District Judge Joseph M. Hood presided over the trial.

This story was originally published November 28, 2018 at 12:38 PM.