K9, Taser, batons. Lexington man accuses troopers, state police of excessive violence
A Lexington man has filed a federal lawsuit against Kentucky State Police over significant injuries from a 2019 arrest during which he was bitten by a police canine, Tasered multiple times and hit with a baton.
A state police trooper’s canine was set loose on Brian Todd Dumphord, who is Black, after he was stopped in Bourbon County in November 2019. While state police documents say the troopers used force on Dumphord because he fled and reached into his pants, Dumphord’s lawsuit said that he shouldn’t have been stopped and the troopers knew he was unarmed.
In addition to naming the Kentucky State Police, the lawsuit was also filed against former KSP Commissioner Rodney Brewer and multiple other individuals within the state police, including the troopers — Jack Gabriel and Joseph Kenny — who were at the scene. The lawsuit was also filed against Bourbon Community Hospital and a doctor who works there.
Gabriel, who set the canine loose on Dumphord, was suspended without pay this summer for using excessive force against a couple outside a Lexington bank. Suspected of trying to cash fraudulent bonds, the young couple were later proven innocent. Gabriel was caught on Lexington Police Department body camera pulling 19-year-old Elena Amayrany Perez out of a car by her hair. Gabriel also forced Preston Slone, 18, to the ground after Slone appeared to do little more than shrug off another officer’s fingers.
Dumphord’s attorney, Zack McKee, argues that what happened during the 2019 arrest of Dumphord was the fallout from training and culture issues within the Kentucky State Police.
McKee cited the recent discovery of state police training materials that included quotes by Adolf Hitler. The materials were first reported by duPont Manual High School’s student newspaper, the Manual RedEye. One Hitler quote included in the training materials was “the very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence.”
“Constant and regular violence, and that is what the troopers used on Mr. Dumphord, constant and regular violence,” McKee said.
McKee called for state police to require body cameras for its troopers and for the agency to update its training.
“Mr. Dumphord, his wife and their two children have been traumatized from the unconscionable and savage beating Mr. Dumphord endured on Nov. 15, 2019, by the Kentucky State Police,” McKee told the Herald-Leader this week. “Mr. Dumphord was parked on the sidewalk outside of his friend’s home when troopers Gabriel and then Kenny pulled in behind Mr. Dumphord without activating their lights or sirens ... Mr. Dumphord never threatened or hit either trooper. However, a warning for a parking violation turned into Mr. Dumphord being bitten by canine Pluto three separate times, tased, and struck by both their batons over and over to the point that he blacked out.”
Kentucky State Police leadership does not comment on pending litigation, and since the complaint was filed this week, the agency has not yet filed a response.
But the events of the arrest on Nov. 15, 2019, were detailed in Dumphord’s lawsuit complaint and in the results of a state police internal affairs investigation into the incident that was launched after Dumphord filed a complaint.
The information from the internal investigation was included in Gabriel’s personnel file, which was provided to the Herald-Leader after the incident at the Lexington bank that led to Gabriel’s five-day suspension. The internal affairs investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Gabriel or Kenny.
However, Dumphord and the troopers’ recollections of the night’s events are substantially different.
KY state police stop follows driver’s exit from lot
Dumphord was in Bourbon County to visit someone he knew, and Gabriel was on patrol looking for drunken drivers that night, according to the lawsuit and KSP records. Gabriel was parked outside J&M Liquor when he spotted a vehicle and started to pull out to follow it for a possible traffic violation, according to records.
When Gabriel pulled out to follow the other vehicle, he pulled behind a red SUV driven by Dumphord, Gabriel said in an interview with internal affairs.
Gabriel said that Dumphord turned “abruptly” into the parking lot of Bluegrass Liquor a few doors down as if he were trying to avoid police. But Dumphord’s lawsuit said that he used his turn signal and that Gabriel did not know or ask why Dumphord went to Bluegrass Liquor.
Gabriel continued to follow the vehicle he was initially watching, but when he saw no violations, he doubled back to where he’d seen Dumphord turn into the parking lot. Gabriel told internal affairs that he then saw Dumphord pull out of the parking lot. That was suspicious, Gabriel said, because Dumphord had not had time to “conduct business” at the liquor store, according to the internal affairs record.
“(Gabriel) did not know if Mr. Dumphord was there to purchase a drink or get change,” the lawsuit states. “Or place a phone call or answer a text message. He does not know any other reason why Mr. Dumphord would have turned into Bluegrass Liquor. He never asked why Mr. Dumphord was at Bluegrass liquor.”
Gabriel completed a license plate check of Dumphord’s car and found that his registration was up to date and the vehicle was not reported stolen. The lawsuit alleges that Gabriel knew Dumphord was behind the wheel and that Gabriel had previously arrested Dumphord on charges that would later be dismissed.
The lawsuit argues that Gabriel had no reason to think Dumphord had done anything wrong on the night of Nov. 15, 2019.
When Dumphord pulled out of the Bluegrass Liquor parking lot, Gabriel turned to follow him, according to the lawsuit and Gabriel’s account of what happened.
Gabriel then saw Dumphord pull onto a sidewalk and “nearly into someone’s yard,” according to the internal affairs account in Gabriel’s file. Dumphord said in the lawsuit that he’d parked on the sidewalk outside the home he was visiting in order to stay out of the way of traffic.
Gabriel pulled behind Dumphord without activating his emergency equipment, according to the lawsuit. Dumphord said he did not know Gabriel was there until the trooper approached his driver’s side door and told him to get back in the vehicle.
Police confrontation escalates with frisk
Because of his previous run-in with Dumphord, during which narcotics were located, Gabriel said he asked Dumphord if there was anything illegal in his vehicle. Dumphord told him no, and when Gabriel asked to search Dumphord’s vehicle, Dumphord got “visibly upset and argumentative,” according to Gabriel’s interview.
Gabriel said he then told Dumphord that he was going to go back to his cruiser to check Dumphord’s license, write a warning for illegal parking, and then he’d let Dumphord go on his way. But once Gabriel was back at his cruiser, he called a second trooper, Kenny, for assistance. In his interview, Gabriel said that Dumphord’s previous criminal allegations, including a past allegation of assault of a police officer, made him call for another officer.
Gabriel had no reason to believe that Dumphord had committed a crime, had already run his license plate and knew there were no issues, Dumphord’s lawsuit argued.
Gabriel was planning to release his dog, Pluto, for an open-air sniff search of Dumphord’s vehicle, but first, he was going to pat Dumphord down once Kenny arrived, Gabriel said in the interview. During the pat-down, Gabriel said he felt an “anomaly” in Dumphord’s groin area and thought it could be narcotics.
Gabriel later said he ordered Dumphord to put his hands behind his back after he felt the “anomaly,” but Dumphord ignored the command and asked why he was being stopped in the first place, Gabriel said.
By Dumphord’s account, Gabriel forced Dumphord up against the vehicle, leaving Dumphord unable to breathe, according to the lawsuit.
“During the pat-down, trooper Kenny told Mr. Dumphord, ‘you need to stop or you’re gonna get hurt,’” according to the lawsuit. “Mr. Dumphord was only asking why they were being so aggressive and doing this to him. He was not being aggressive but was being cooperative.”
Kenny and Gabriel told Dumphord he was being arrested, but they would not tell him why, according to the lawsuit.
Gabriel and Kenny each grabbed one of Dumphord’s arms to pull them behind him, but Dumphord slipped out of his jacket, Gabriel said.
“At this time, Mr. Dumphord lowered his shoulder into Trooper Kenny, striking him in the chest, causing Trooper Kenny to fall to the pavement with Mr. Dumpbord on top of him,” according to Gabriel’s personnel file. “Trooper Kenny attempted to restrain Mr. Dumphord, but he slipped out of his jacket and began to flee south from Boone Street.”
By Dumphord’s account, he and Kenny fell to the ground after Kenny attempted to “body slam” him, according to the lawsuit.
K9 Pluto released, Taser, batons followed
Kenny was holding on to Dumphord when Gabriel told Kenny to get off because he’d released Pluto, his K9, according to the lawsuit. Dumphord was not resisting and had been subdued, but when he saw the dog charging at him, his fight or flight instincts kicked in and he ran, the lawsuit argued.
Gabriel’s account in his personnel file said that he did not release Pluto until after Dumphord started to flee toward a nearby wooded area with a hand in his pants near the “anomaly” Gabriel had felt during the pat-down. Gabriel also told internal affairs that, since he’d been unable to complete his pat-down, he didn’t know if Dumphord was armed.
Gabriel said that Pluto bit Dumphord on his left thigh. When Gabriel and Kenny caught up, Dumphord was face down and had his hands under him, Gabriel said. Gabriel attempted to pull Dumphord’s hands behind him but was unsuccessful.
Dumphord would not put his hands behind his back, so Gabriel used a Taser on him, Gabriel said. The Taser did not successfully shock Dumphord, so Gabriel struck Dumphord with a baton three times.
Dumphord said that Pluto was called off before he was shocked with the Taser, at which point he blacked out. He regained consciousness as Gabriel was hitting him with the baton.
Dumphord said he put his hands up to show he was complying, contradicting Gabriel.
The troopers reported that Pluto had not been “taken off” Dumphord at all during the struggle in the wooded area and therefore only bit Dumphord once. But Dumphord said that Pluto had been called off before the first Taser deployment and then told to bite him again.
The second bite “snapped” Dumphord’s wrist, according to the lawsuit. Dumphord reported that Pluto was again taken off of him before being allowed to bite him a third time.
Kenny then used his own Taser on Dumphord, but after the first shock, Dumphord “would only place one hand behind his back,” so Kenny shocked him again, according to Gabriel’s interview. Dumphord then complied and was handcuffed.
Gabriel said he then called off Pluto, and an ambulance was called for Dumphord. During a second pat-down, the troopers did not feel anything on Dumphord.
Dumphord told the troopers that he’d been bitten on his wrist and that the handcuffs were hurting him, according to the lawsuit. The handcuffs were not removed.
Gabriel and Kenny later searched the wooded area Dumphord had run to and found a plastic glove filled with a white substance where he’d been on the ground, Gabriel said in the interview.
Dumphord was charged with trafficking cocaine, evidence tampering, third-degree assault of a police officer, fleeing and resisting arrest, according to court records. McKee has filed a motion to throw out any evidence gathered by Gabriel and Kenny after Kenny arrived the night of the arrest, saying that the troopers had no probable cause to detain Dumphord beyond the parking violation. That motion will be heard by a judge at a later date.
Medical treatment included drains, surgery
After his arrest, Dumphord was transported to Bourbon Community Hospital, where he was treated for the bite to his thigh, according to the lawsuit. Dumphord said complaints about his wrist were ignored until he was released from jail on bond the next day and went to the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital emergency department.
At UK Hospital, Dumphord’s wrist was examined for the first time and found to be fractured and punctured, according to the lawsuit.
Dumphord also suffered bruising to his head as a result of being hit with batons, according to the lawsuit.
Officer’s previous charge against driver dismissed
The November 2019 incident was not the first time that Gabriel stopped Dumphord. On Dec. 12, 2017, Gabriel pulled Dumphord over for an improper turn signal, according to court records. Gabriel told Dumphord that he had the authority to search his vehicle because of Dumphord’s “past,” and Dumphord was charged with possession of a controlled substance and improper use of a turn signal, according to a motion written by McKee.
McKee argued that the evidence found in the 2017 search was the result of an improper stop, and the charges against Dumphord, in that case, were later dropped.
After the 2019 arrest, Dumphord’s complaint with Kentucky State Police internal affairs alleged that Gabriel’s actions in 2019 were racially motivated and in retaliation for the dismissed 2017 charges, according to the lawsuit. Gabriel said he hadn’t followed the 2017 case and was not upset about the outcome, according to court records.
This story was originally published November 20, 2020 at 11:17 AM.
