‘Treated him like a criminal.’ Family of autistic teen hit by police cruiser begs for answers.

The family of Liam Long, 19, told Mayor Linda Gorton and the Lexington council that they have received conflicting information about how Long was hit by a Lexington police cruiser on March 30 during a mental health crisis and begged the city to release more information.

Kendra Long, Liam Long’s mother, said she does not understand how Long was seriously injured —he suffered a brain bleed, a fractured nose and shoulder as well as multiple lacerations that required stitches. He cannot walk on his own and is still hospitalized.

“Liam was in need of support. Rather than contact our family and mental health professionals, the police were called and treated him like a criminal,” Kendra Long said during a Thursday council meeting. “My son is a teenager with autism and mental health challenges, while he needed care he was responded to with force.”

A case worker called 911 after Long, who is autistic, was having a mental health crisis and was delusional..

Police have previously said Long threatened officers and was holding a knife when they arrived to do a welfare check. Long then fled on foot and was struck by a police officer in a cruiser who was arriving on the scene, police said the day after the incident.

Some eye witnesses in the Garden Springs area where the accident occurred have come forward with differing accounts, Kendra Long said.

“If the police cruiser had just arrived on the scene as reported, why are there indications that the police car was actually chasing him,” Kendra Long said. “They treated him like a criminal after he was motionless in the road.”

But the Longs said they are still not sure what happened that night.

“It appears a police cruiser was weaponized against him,” said Polly Long, Liam Long’s sister. “We have a Black child with mental health problems and he looks a lot like a statistic right now. And the information we are getting is really inconsistent and it’s scary given what we have seen across the nation....We are not trying to accuse anybody of anything. We would like to release that information so someone else can get us some answers. Because right now we are left to figure it out on our own and that feels more like a dictatorship then democracy.”

Gorton said she spoke with Lexington Police Chief Lawrence Weathers earlier Thursday and told him that the family deserved to know more about what happened.

“We will get you answers,” Gorton told family members.

Weathers said Thursday the department did not want to release body-camera videos until an internal investigation into the accident was completed. Weathers said he did not want to release video without providing what the investigation found.

Weathers said he expects that investigation to be finished either by Friday or early next week. The family will be able to view the body-camera footage prior to it being released publicly.

“This truly is a heart-breaking incident and it’s not something any officer wants to see or any police chief wants to see,” Weathers said. “Policing is a very dangerous business and we can’t control everything and unfortunate incidents do happen. I apologize to the family for it and I apologize to Mr. Long, who was injured. But the officer involved is dealing with some things to, not anywhere near the scale of what the family is dealing with.”

The name of the officer has not been released.

Weathers said they also have asked Kentucky State Police to review the police’s investigation. Kentucky State Police will not have a say on whether the video can be released, Weathers said.

Weathers said some information will be redacted but that typically is limited to blurring out information on police ab tops or faces or information regarding minors.

A lawyer for the Long family said Wednesday the family has been offered an opportunity to view the video but a date had not yet been set.

April Taylor, an advocate who has pushed for more police accountability, urged Lexington city officials to add a provision to the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the Fraternal Order of Police to require police to release body-camera footage within three days of a use-of-force incident. Taylor said those body cameras were purchased to increase transparency and accountability yet police repeatedly withhold body camera footage when it deals with a use-of-force incident.

The police and FOP are currently negotiating a new contract.

Taylor also said the Long family was interviewed by police investigators at the hospital. Those conversations were recorded without the knowledge of the Long family. Other people had to tell the Longs that police were recording those interviews, she said.

“This is yet another incident where Lexington PD is investigating Lexington PD,” Taylor said.

At 2 p.m. on Saturday, the Lexington Police Department Accountability group will host a march from the downtown Fayette district and circuit courthouses on Main and Limestone streets to police headquarters on Main Street. The group wants a blank formal complaint form for the Long family to file.

Taylor and others with the Lexington Police Accountability group said they have sought a formal complaint form for more than a year but have not yet received one. A formal complaint can result in disciplinary action, including termination. Taylor and others have said the department currently does not have that form online. People can submit comments or complaints but the police can decide to turn those complaints into what’s called an informal complaint, which typically results in counseling.

People, including the Longs, need to have access to the formal complaint form independent of the police department, the group said in a written release. The police department should not get to decide what is a formal or informal complaint, the group says.

One of the 54 recommendations of Gorton’s Commission on Racial Justice and Equality is to have an ombudsmen or someone outside of the police department help people file formal complaints.