LMPD suspends 4 officers who knew about drink-throwing 'Slushygate' but did not report it
Four Louisville Metro Police officers who knew their colleagues were throwing drinks at civilians from unmarked police cars and splashing people with puddles but did nothing to stop the misconduct have been suspended, but will remain on the force, discipline documents obtained by The Courier Journal through open records requests show.
The officers suspended without pay are:
Sgt. Kevin Casper, who received a 30-day suspension, a demotion and an involuntary unit transfer;
Detective John Benzing, who received a 15-day suspension;
Detective Joseph Howell, who received a 10-day suspension;
Detective Beau Gadegaard, who received a 10-day suspension.
All of the suspended officers, Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel wrote in discipline letters, participated in a “chat thread” where a video of at least one instance of misconduct was shared. According to the letters, two of the suspended officers observed the misconduct firsthand while driving behind a vehicle responsible for the incidents.
According to an LMPD spokesperson, a fifth officer has been served pre-termination paperwork over the incidents that have come to be known as "Slushygate." However, LMPD has not identified that officer nor provided any details about their role in the incidents.
The discipline letters said the attacks, which officers filmed and shared, occurred between August 2018 and September 2019.
The misconduct was carried out by members of the Ninth Mobile Division, which was disbanded in 2019.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the specialized unit designed to go after violent crime faced internal pressure "to generate 'stats' like stops and arrests, especially in predominantly Black neighborhoods."
Casper, who received the harshest punishment, knew “subordinates in [his] chain of command were throwing drinks and/or splashing puddles on civilians, recording the events, and/or watching videos of the acts” Gwinn-Villaroel wrote in a July 20 letter. She added that he failed his “supervisory responsibility” by not reporting the misconduct or taking action to stop it.
Like other officers involved, Casper was warned he could face termination if he was involved in further policy violations.
In a letter to Benzing, Gwinn-Villaroel wrote: "On at least one occasion, you were captured in a video in which a drink is thrown out of the window of the car in front of you striking the pedestrian."
However, she noted, Benzing did not notify commanding officers of the misconduct.
The news of the suspensions comes more than one year after former LMPD Chief Erika Shields announced a probe into Slushygate after two former LMPD officers, Bryan Wilson and Curt Flynn, pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the scandal.
In a statement following the guilty pleas, Shields called their behavior “demoralizing and dehumanizing to the victims” and apologized to those affected.
According to federal prosecutors, Flynn and Wilson used their position as police officers to obtain the drinks they threw at people for free from local businesses.
At a sentencing hearing for Flynn and Wilson last October, prosecutors showed videos of the misconduct, including one in which officers pulled up to a woman and shouted “how about a drink?” before throwing a beverage at her. The officers were often laughing during the attacks.
At that hearing, prosecutors had collected 40 such videos, but that did not capture the entirety of the misconduct.
Flynn was sentenced to three months in prison. Wilson, who also pleaded guilty in a cyberstalking case where he used police technology to help hack and extort women using stolen sexually explicit material, was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Reach reporter Josh Wood at jwood@courier-journal.com or on Twitter at @JWoodJourno.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 4 LMPD officers suspended for role in drink-throwing Slushygate
