Louisville, Kentucky, police officer Jervis Middletown was demoted for improper conduct and then fired after he aligned with local Black Lives Matter protestors in the wake of the George Floyd killing. He is appealing his termination in court, claiming that the police department treats Black officers more harshly than white officers. With support from the Fund, reporter Gabbriel Schivone wrote about Middletown’s case for Mother Jones. Of the 30 racial-bias allegations filed against Lexington officers from 2017 through 2019, Schivone found that 28 were dismissed and none resulted in discipline – not even for a white officer who was the subject of 17 complaints containing a range of allegations.
Grantee reports that Louisville police department rarely disciplined white officers for wrongdoing, but the case of a Black officer was different
