Teen accused of shooting cop shows need for change in juvenile justice, advocates say
The criminal history of a Lexington teenager who’s accused of shooting at local police is an indicator that Fayette County needs to reform its juvenile justice system, according to the NAACP’s local branch.
The teenager accused of firing at police is 16 years old, and was one of three teens arrested over the Feb. 5 incident, according to Lexington police. Police didn’t release the charged teenagers’ names.
But court records and information from WKYT, the Herald-Leader’s reporting partner, indicate the 16 year old was violating his bond conditions after previously being charged with assault, robbery and wanton endangerment.
The 16 year old, who was charged with the prior offenses in 2020, allegedly violated his bond conditions twice this year, including cutting off a GPS monitor after he was ordered to home detention in January, according to court records.
The teenager was treated as an adult in Fayette Circuit Court because he had youthful offender status, according to the Lexington-Fayette NAACP. Moving the case to adult court and ordering him to serve home detention caused the teenager to miss out on “a corrective program in the juvenile system tailored to their unique needs,” the NAACP said.
“He never had the advantage of any treatment tailored to rehabilitate him,” local NAACP President Whit Whitaker said in a statement. “Instead, he was placed in close contact with others who could commit harmful acts against him.”
The shooting happened after police officers saw the three charged teenagers and one other teen in the 1000 block of Newtown Pike and approached them because the officers thought the teenagers may have been connected to a prior shooting.
The 16 year old allegedly fired at police while officers were investigating, according to police. One shot hit an officer’s bulletproof vest and he was taken to a hospital with a non-life-threatening injury. Another officer fired back but no one was struck, police said.
Two 17 year olds were each charged with possessing a handgun as a minor, trafficking a controlled substance with a gun, trafficking marijuana with a gun and receiving a stolen gun, according to police.
The 16 year old was charged with assault of a police officer, three counts of attempted murder of a police officer, five counts of wanton endangerment, possessing a handgun as a minor, carrying a concealed weapon, criminal mischief, trafficking a controlled substance with a gun, trafficking marijuana with a gun, and receiving a stolen gun, police said.
The fourth teen was present but wasn’t charged, according to police.
Police on Friday identified the police officers involved in the shooting. Officer Junior Pauleus, who has been on the force for eight months, was taken to the hospital after being injured in the shooting, Lexington police said in a news release. He has since been released from the hospital.
Officer Jacob Webster returned fire on the 16-year-old who shot Pauleus, police said, but no one was injured. Officer Daniel True was also involved in the incident, police said. Both Webster and True have served on the Lexington Police Department for six years.
The Lexington-Fayette NAACP said an individually-tailored juvenile justice plan should have been applied for this teenager earlier in his life.
“If we do not address the impact of brain development and youthful behavior and focus efforts on education and intervention for all youthful defendants, we only push the juvenile more deeply into the criminal justice system, harmfully impacting the juvenile and making our society less safe,” Whitaker said in his statement.
The NAACP stated that Fayette County needs a “robust, trauma-informed juvenile justice system that intervenes in the lives of these youth to better ensure everyone’s safety, and the development of these youth into connected and thriving members of our community.”
“Such a system must take into consideration those critical years of transition from youth to young adulthood. Kentucky must devote its resources to radically resettling these young people’s lives, focusing on rehabilitation instead of punishment,” Whitaker said in his statement.
Whitaker also said a reformed juvenile justice system needs to be applied “to all young people, regardless of race, gender ethnicity, or offense.”
“If we fail to put our criminal justice resources here, our communities are less safe, and we continue to perpetuate a cycle of trauma and disenfranchisement of all our children.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2022 at 3:31 PM.