Gerth: Slushygate cops yuck it up while Louisville police's reputation goes to hell

If you haven’t read Courier Journal reporter Josh Wood’s piece on the Louisville Metro Police “Slushygate” scandal and watched the videos of thuggish police officers carrying out attacks on innocent pedestrians, you need to.

And if you’re anything like me, your first question will be, “Why weren’t more officers fired for their roles in carrying out the attacks and covering them up.”

And you’ll wonder why Mayor Craig Greenberg isn’t pounding his fist on tables and demanding that Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel do something to restore faith in Louisville police.

Because allowing some of these officers to remain on the force just ain’t going to get it done.

In the videos, you see the police officers pick out victims and then make 180-degree turns to go back and throw slushies or big gulps at them.

They laugh as they drive away. They think it’s hilarious when one person they target falls down.

Some of the cops are bullies. Some of them are criminals.

The one thing they have in common is they’ve all been blessed with the judgment God gave a carrot.

No one who would do this is the type of person who we should rely on to protect us.

Take for instance Detective Jonathan Robbins, who Gwinn-Villaroel originally fired but changed his punishment to a suspension because he said he was sorry.

This was a guy who was driving his fellow officers around so they could carry out the Slushygate attacks. He’d pull up to the curb and his buddies would drench some poor soul with a Big Gulp.

Gwinn-Villaroel thinks he has the judgment to carry a gun and a badge.

And then there is Detective John Benzing, who was videoed driving behind officers who were carrying out attacks on innocent pedestrians. He once, in a group text, responded with a laughing emoji on a video of another attack.

He lied to investigators and denied knowing about the attacks.

He should have been fired instantly for perjury.

Gwinn-Villaroel thinks a guy who lies about assaults on people he swore to protect has the judgment to carry a gun and a badge. She figured 15 days without pay would be enough to fix his moral failings.

And then there is Sgt. Kevin Casper, who was the supervisor for the officers who carried out the attacks.

He, like Benzing, denied he knew about the attacks, and like Benzing, he lied.

Casper knew about it. He commented on one video in a group text, “y’all need to use the slo mo feature.”

He, too, should have been canned on the spot.

Gwinn-Villaroel thinks he, too, has the judgment to carry a gun and a badge.

Even though he lied.

He got a month off work.

How can the people of Louisville trust these guys?

Then there was Detective Beau Gadegaard, suspended for 10 days. According to Wood, Gadegaard told investigators he feared other officers would not have his back if he reported the misconduct.

And, so he kept his mouth shut.

Aren’t police supposed to be the bravest of the brave, yet Gadegaard was scared he’d be ostracized by other police officers?

We tell second-graders they need to report bullying, but we can’t count on a detective with a big-city police force to do the same.

But what is really troubling is that Greenberg, who seems to have taken a hard-right, pro-police turn after Quintez Brown allegedly went into his campaign office a couple of years ago and fired a gun at him, is fine with all this.

He’s backing the blue.

Yeah, sure, a couple of guys were convicted of federal crimes and fired. And, sure, the incidents were unacceptable, but these guys will change.

“That is not the culture of LMPD today. That is not one that (Villaroel) or I or anyone in our city should tolerate any longer. We are taking a whole new approach. And Chief has implemented some meaningful improvements and training, some changes in the way that supervision occurs,” Greenberg told a Courier Journal reporter on Thursday.

Training is not going to fix this.

These officers lied, looked the other way and didn’t have the guts to call out other cops. They had moral failings and judgment that was so flawed they thought this was a big joke.

They’re still yucking it up while the department’s credibility goes to hell.

Joseph Gerth can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courierjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Slushygate: Louisville police department's reputation goes to hell