Police officers film themselves throwing slushies at random people in disturbing video
Two police officers have been jailed after footage emerged showing them throwing slushies at members of the public.
The video was originally captured in Louisville, Kentucky over an 11 month period between 2018 and 2019, which has since become known locally as 'Slushygate'.
It has been made public following a Freedom of Information request by the Courier Journal Newspaper.
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The two officers have been named as Curtis Flynn, 40, and Bryan Wilson, 36. Both were members of an elite drug task force in the city.
The video shows the uniformed officers driving past pedestrians and throwing the icy drinks through their unmarked car window as they pass, before driving away.
In at least one case, a victim was knocked to the ground by the assault.
One clip filmed from a marked police car shows a pedestrian being hit by a slushy thrown by one of the officers, though it is not clear if the officers in the marked vehicle were involved.
Another clip shows the officers driving fast through a roadside puddle and splashing people waiting at a bus stop.
Both officers pleaded guilty, with Flynn being sentenced to three months in jail and Wilson to 30 months.
At least five other officers have also been suspended temporarily from their jobs for their roles in the assaults.
According to an investigation locating 18 of the assaults, all but one of those which could be geolocated happened in historically disadvantaged areas of the city.
The slushy throwing has been described as the culmination of a lack of accountability in task forces like the one Flynn and Wilson were a part of.
Speaking about such units more broadly, Louisville Metro Police Deputy Chief Steve Healey said: “The reputation was they were getting a lot of guns off the street. They were making a lot of arrests.
"You didn’t really hear about all of the other stuff until you would see the news reports come out, you would see the complaints come out.”
Former Baltimore police officer and professor Peter Moskos said: “That’s really bad. And it’s such a petty way, that it makes it almost worse, because it does reflect horrible contempt for the community."
Detective Joseph Howell was among the officers who were suspended.
Howell, who received a 10-day suspension, told the Courier Journal: “I thought this is just some dumb prank stuff that specialty units do. And everybody seems to be OK with it.”
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said: “We are focused on improving the culture of LMPD where we proactively work with [the] community, build trust with the community, and we want to have an LMPD that everyone trusts and respects.
“Incidents like that will not be tolerated by Chief [Jacquelyn] Gwinn-Villaroel or myself.”
A statement from the Louisville Metro Police Department said: “It is understanding that the videos of the drink throwing incidents from 2018 – 2019 are upsetting and disturbing to the public. The incidents are a painful part of LMPD’s history."
UNILAD has reached out to the Louisville Metro Police Department for comment.
Kit Roberts