In former police chaplain’s lawsuit against protesters, the real culprits are council, mayor, LPD
Former chaplain to the Lexington Police Department (LPD) and recently retired police officer, Donovan Stewart, is suing two local organizers, Sarah Williams and April Taylor, and 10 unnamed “John Does” for defamation. Stewart, caught on camera in February, 2019 punching a Black teenager in the head at Fayette Mall, claims he has been the subject of harassment and lies following the incident. While there can be some disagreement regarding what has been said and posted and leveled against Mr. Stewart over the past year and a half by the named organizers and others, two things are true and will hold fast regardless of lawsuit and lawyers and public opinion:
1) Mr. Stewart punched a Black teenager in a vulnerable area in public.
2) He, Ms. Taylor, and Ms. Williams have been hung out to dry by our mayor, our councilmembers, and LPD.
The first truth, Mr. Stewart’s violent actions against a Black teenager, was captured on video. Though the video shows only one angle and does not include what led up to the incident, there can be no dispute about the video itself: Officer Stewart engaged in a form of violence prohibited by LPD and he did so against a minor.
The second truth, the lack of any meaningful action or support provided by our elected officials and LPD, is similarly indisputable. Let me tell you why.
In May of 2019, I sat in a meeting with most, but not all, of our city’s councilmembers as Sarah Williams, one of the organizers named in Mr. Stewart’s lawsuit, explained to our councilmembers why and how the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) — the legal document that defines how our city and its police interact and intersect — needed to be rewritten to include transparency, oversight, and accountability. Her example of why we needed those changes? The actions of Mr. Stewart at Fayette Mall and the lack of any known followup by LPD. It’s been over a year, and nothing has changed. Yes, there have been meetings and talk and expressions of dismay, but not one thing has changed, because our mayor, our council, and LPD have still not acted to change it.
See, the current CBA lets the police police themselves. Police determine how and if the bad actors among them are disciplined. Additionally, what that discipline is and whether or not it occurs at all is kept secret — even from our council and the mayor — unless the police decide to make it public.
Since Mr. Stewart punched that teenage boy in the head in public and on camera, we, the public, have had no access to what, if any, actions LPD has taken to hold Mr. Stewart accountable. LPD does not want us to know. They believe transparency, oversight, and accountability in regards to policing are unnecessary, regardless of police conduct. They believe being held accountable to and by the people who pay their salaries and purchase their bullets is antithetical to justice. The council and mayor, because they have still not changed the CBA, are in tacit agreement with LPD.
Mr. Stewart deserves better. Because the violence he perpetrated as a public servant against a minor happened in public, he deserves the opportunity to square up to the demands of justice in a public way, and to be given the opportunity to be restored in good faith to his community after meeting those demands. Ms. Williams and Ms. Taylor deserve better, too. They deserve elected officials who are not afraid to wield the power entrusted to them in a way that best serves their constituents. Had council acted when asked to do so back in May of 2019 or in any of the 15 months between then and now, this lawsuit would have likely never happened. Justice might have even been served.
It’s time for the powerful among us to stop slinking along in the shadows as though what happens here has nothing to do with them. Call them up. Tell them to pull it together and change the CBA. And if they don’t? Never, ever, ever vote for any of them ever again.
Reva Russell English is an organizer, farmer and artist in Lexington.