Lexington officer gets six-month suspension for ‘inappropriate’ contact with citizen
A Lexington police officer has been suspended for six months without pay for “inappropriate interactions” with a citizen.
In August, a lieutenant with the Lexington Police Department notified the department’s public integrity unit of an inappropriate relationship between officer Jeremiah Terry and a citizen. After an investigation, the allegations were substantiated, according to documents the Lexington Herald-Leader obtained through an Open Records Act request.
Terry agreed to a six-month suspension without pay, according to the documents. He must also be retrained on body-worn cameras, informant handling training and ethics. The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council approved the suspension at its meeting March 5.
Brenna Angel, a police spokeswoman, said the department could not elaborate on the nature of the inappropriate relationship or interaction. The citizen was not a minor and was not a police informant under police guidelines, she said.
Terry has been a police officer since 2015, according to department records.
Terry’s suspension will start Monday, Angel said.
The six-month suspension without pay is one of the longest suspensions for a Lexington police officer in the past several years.
2nd officer penalized for Taser use, pursuit
Also on March 5, the council approved the two-week suspension of officer James York who used a Taser on a non-violent suspect who was fleeing from a traffic stop, according to department records.
In early December, York was helping another officer with a traffic stop. The suspect later fled from the vehicle and was pursued by York. York used his Taser on the subject “who at the time did not appear to display a level of aggression that would make the use of the Taser reasonable,” disciplinary records obtained by the Herald-Leader show.
York was charged with violating department polices regarding emergency pursuits, response to resistance and for failing to activate his body-worn camera until after he arrested the suspect.
York, who has been a police officer since 2017, agreed to the two-week suspension without pay. His suspension started March 9. In addition York also received a 60-day home fleet suspension. That means he can’t use his police vehicle outside of work.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 2:09 PM.
