Second Central Kentucky cop faces lawsuit after man was shot, killed by police
A second Nicholasville police officer has been added to a lawsuit that alleges he and another officer were negligent, used excessive force and contributed to the wrongful death of a 22-year-old Nicholasville man shot and killed by police in October 2022.
Desman LaDuke was shot and killed by Joseph Horton, an officer with the Nicholasville Police Department, after police were called to LaDuke’s home for a welfare check. Horton was originally listed in the suit, filed on Nov. 16, 2022, by Jon Fannin and Matt Minner of Minner Vines Moncus. They are attorneys for LaDuke’s estate.
An amended complaint was filed last month, which includes Jason Fraddosio, commander and lieutenant of the Nicholasville Police Department’s Special Response Team. He has worked in law enforcement for 21 years, according to documents obtained through the Kentucky Open Records Act.
The lawsuit cites several violations against Fraddosio, including: excessive force, assault and battery, negligence, wrongful death and survival action, and unlawful governmental policy.
Attorneys are requesting actual, special, punitive, statutory, and compensatory damages, according to the suit.
Officers accused of being ‘hungover,’ fabricating statements
Police have contended that Horton shot LaDuke because LaDuke pointed two guns at police. Fraddosio was next to Horton during the shooting, and gave an order to shoot if LaDuke aimed two firearms at officers once more during the standoff, according to invterviews conducted by Kentucky State Police with the officers involved in the shooting.
Fraddosio told investigators he himself almost fired a shot towards LaDuke, fearing for his life. Several officers interviewed who witnessed the shooting said LaDuke disregarded hours of attempts by police to get LaDuke to leave his home and talk with officers.
According to the lawsuit, officers asked LaDuke to put down the gun a minimum of 29 times in four minutes.
Fraddosio said just as he went to squeeze his trigger, a shot rang out that he realized wasn’t his.
“I was so committed that I thought it was mine because the bullet went exactly where it was, and I was looking at this guy literally about to shoot me, both guns, both front, both visible, clear as day,” Fraddosio said.
Minner and Fannin allege in their lawsuit that both officers violated LaDuke’s Constitutional rights when they shot him and that officers “intentionally, maliciously, and in bad faith applied and threatened to apply unlawful and necessary force against (LaDuke).”
Attorneys state that as commander of the tactical team, Fraddosio’s “encouragement and order to (Horton) to shoot Desman LaDuke” was an act of failed supervision and a “deliberate indifference to the rights of (LaDuke).”
Minner and Fannin also state in court documents that the 11-member tactical group was together the night before, and consumed enough alcohol for one patrol officer to state that all the tactical group members were “probably all hungover” the day of the shooting.
Horton admits in his interview he got about five hours of sleep and had “just woke up” before he arrived on the scene at LaDuke’s home. He said it was because he worked third shift the night before.
The lawsuit states the special response team led by Fraddosio was “not in a state of readiness,” the team experienced problems with turnover, and as such, the team members had little to no training.
Fraddosio and Horton are alleged to have “fabricated” post-shooting statements “in an apparent effort to justify their respective actions,” according to the lawsuit.
Scott Miller is representing both Horton and Fraddosio, and told the Herald-Leader his office would be exploring all possible avenues of defense as they go through the KSP records and further discovery. Miller said while he is defending the two officers, he does not minimize the tragedy LaDuke’s family continues to experience.
“Anytime we are put in a position of defending the lawsuit, it doesn’t minimize the tragedy or life that was taken,” he said. “But we are going to defend our officers, especially when they are put in position to use deadly force and when we understand there were two guns at pointed at them.
“The situation is we have to defend that. It is not an attempt to minimize the tragedy or that the family is having to go through this.”
Miller expects to file a legal response to the suit in several days.
Attorneys ‘troubled’ as more information comes to light
The lawsuit was amended to include Fraddosio after attorneys obtained Kentucky State Police’s full investigative file, which was not available to obtain through open records until the investigation into the shooting was finished. A Jessamine County grand jury declined to indict Horton of criminal charges in August 2023.
“(We) continue to be very troubled by how this situation was handled,” Fannin told the Herald-Leader in an email.
Fannin said with the new investigative files, he and Minner are better able to learn the facts of the case and get a full understanding of what unfolded more than one year ago.
“It is clear from the documents we received from the KSP that this situation was treated as a hostage situation,” he told the Herald-Leader in a phone interview. “This was not that. He was alone in his home when he was shot by the Nicholasville Police Department. That is the biggest takeaway: why did they treat this as a hostage situation?”
Fannin would not comment on whether other officers would be facing lawsuits.
An attorney for Melissa Marks, LaDuke’s former legal guardian and aunt, was not immediately available for comment Thursday afternoon.
