Lexington police officer suspended for two months without pay. Here’s what he did.

A Lexington police officer was suspended for two months without pay for a vehicle pursuit that ended in an accident, disregarding traffic laws and botching an arrest so badly the charges against a subject had to be dropped, according to documents released by police this week.

Lexington Police Officer Jesse Mascoe, who has been an officer since 2015, has been issued multiple violations since February 2019, including failing to follow the department’s policy on emergency and pursuit driving three times in four months.

Mascoe’s suspension was approved by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council at its Aug. 15 meeting. The Lexington Herald-Leader obtained Mascoe’s disciplinary records through an Open Records Act request. Mascoe was found guilty of violating the department’s policies on vehicle pursuits and for unsatisfactory performance for a series of department violations going back several months.

On May 27, Mascoe stopped a vehicle for a window tint violation near Georgetown Road and Ash Street. The vehicle fled from the stop and Mascoe pursued. The driver struck a fence and then hit another vehicle while fleeing, according to disciplinary records.

Adrian Wilkinson was the driver of the vehicle that was struck by the fleeing vehicle Mascoe was pursuing.

“He hit me so hard that it pushed me into a parking lot and mowed down a stop sign,” Wilkinson said. “But the officer didn’t stop. He continued to pursue the kid in the other vehicle.”

Wilkinson said his car had to be towed from the scene, and he eventually went to the hospital. He had a head injury.

“I didn’t have any broken bones, but I have had a lot of doctor’s appointments over the last several months,” Wilkinson said. “The officer didn’t come back and check on me. He only came back after the ambulance and other police officers were already there.”

The Lexington Police Department’s pursuit policy states officers should not pursue suspects when the driver of the vehicle are wanted for non-violent crimes such as traffic violations or misdemeanors unless an officer can show there were specific circumstances that “justify the risk of pursuit.”

Two months earlier on March 18, Mascoe was issued a written warning called a letter of counseling for engaging in a vehicle pursuit contrary to department policy on two different occasions before the May 27 incident, documents released by the police department show.

Sgt. Joshua Yahr watched Mascoe’s body camera and noticed violations of emergency pursuit driving during a pursuit on Feb. 27 and during a separate traffic stop on March 11. The documents also show Mascoe committed several traffic violations while looking for traffic offenders on March 18 and March 26.

Angel said Lexington police watch body camera video after any vehicle pursuit to make sure officers are following the department’s procedures.

Mascoe’s disciplinary actions are not all related to driving.

On April 8, Mascoe received another letter of counseling for failing to give a suspect a Miranda warning, improperly searching or frisking a subject and for failing to properly book evidence concerning an incident on March 26. The prosecutor had to drop the charges against that suspect because of Mascoe’s mistakes, the documents said.

Records do not indicate the nature of the charges that were dropped.

On June 2, Mascoe was issued another written reprimand for improper body camera activation, improper documentation of a traffic stop and again failing to give a suspect a Miranda warning — which tells a person of their right to remain silent — for an incident on April 21.

Mascoe was retrained on proper search and seizure and Miranda warning procedures on June 14, but he continued to violate department policy, documents show.

On June 21, Mascoe drove his police cruiser out of Fayette County without permission. Lexington police officers are allowed to take home city-owned police cruisers or other police vehicles but the vehicle must remain in Fayette County unless an officer gets permission from a supervisor.

According to the documents, the official complaint outlying Mascoe’s misconduct was not signed and turned over to the department’s public integrity unit, which investigates officer misconduct, until June 25. The public integrity unit, though, was notified of problems involving Mascoe and became involved in February, said Brenna Angela, a spokeswoman for the Lexington Police Department.

“Department discipline is progressive, and supervisors take into consideration individual incidents as well as the totality of alleged violations of policy,” Angel said.

There was also a formal complaint filed against Mascoe in April for a separate incident, Angel said.

”Officer Mascoe had received a formal complaint that was initially filed in April and finalized in July,” Angel said. “In that investigation, the officer was found to be in violation of department policy regarding the operation of vehicles. He received a written reprimand, retraining and an 80-hour suspension of home fleet privileges.”

Mascoe agreed to the two-month suspension and a six-month suspension of his home-fleet privileges, according to the documents. Mascoe is currently on leave and could not be reached for comment.

Mascoe is the second officer in three months to receive a multi-month suspension without pay.

In May, Lexington Officer Roberto Reyes Jr. was suspended for three months without pay for repeated violations of department policy. Reyes used a taser on a handcuffed subject in November. In October, while responding to a disturbance call at a local bar, Reyes reportedly cursed at a crowd gathered outside and pointed his Taser at people who were showing “no signs of aggression or resistance towards officers.”

This story was originally published August 28, 2019 at 2:17 PM.