Punishment reduced for ex-supervisor who LMPD says knew about 'Slushygate' attacks

Louisville Metro Police has downgraded the punishment for a former supervisor the department said knew about drink-throwing "Slushygate" attacks by officers in his unit but did nothing to stop it, reducing his original 30-day suspension to 10.

The change to Kevin Casper’s punishment was announced at a Police Merit Board meeting last week.

LMPD said in July that Casper would be suspended for 30 days and lose his rank of sergeant for failing to take action against subordinates in LMPD’s elite Ninth Mobile Division, who he knew were throwing drinks at pedestrians from unmarked police vehicles.

While Casper denied knowing about the Slushygate incidents, investigators determined he actively participated in a group chat in which officers shared videos of their attacks.

Casper appealed his punishment, but the department eventually agreed to reduce his suspension if he dropped his appeal.

“Officer Casper exercised his statutory right to appeal the issued discipline to the Louisville Metro Police Merit Board. Prior to a Merit Board hearing, Officer Casper and the department agreed to amend the discipline previously issued in exchange for the withdrawal of the Police Merit Board appeal,” an LMPD spokesperson said in a statement to The Courier Journal last week.

LMPD did not reinstate his rank, the spokesperson added.

Casper was one of five officers disciplined last year for his role in what became known as "Slushygate."

LMPD’s investigation determined a sixth officer, Kelly Goodlett, also would have violated department policy for her role in Slushygate had she not left the force. Goodlett is currently awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to a federal charge related to false information in the warrant for the home of Breonna Taylor, who was killed by LMPD in 2020.

Another two officers, Curt Flynn and Bryan Wilson, were sentenced to federal prison in 2022 over the attacks, which were carried out for at least a year spanning 2018-19.

A Courier Journal review of dozens of cell phone videos recorded by Ninth Mobile officers identified 24 unique incidents where officers threw drinks at civilians. Officers laughed at and mocked their targets. Their attacks largely took place in poorer, historically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

In the group chat with Ninth Mobile officers, Casper wrote “y’all need to use the slow mo feature” in responding to a video of an officer throwing a drink at a pedestrian. Following Casper's comment, Flynn sent the group chat a slow motion video of an officer throwing a drink at two people at the intersection of 26th and West Jefferson streets in Louisville's West End.

Casper, however, maintained he never knew of the attacks.

“As you can see on that video, it’s hard to tell, like, what’s going on,” Casper told internal affairs investigators. “So I was like ‘I don’t understand what you guys are sending, like maybe, you know, try the slow [mo] feature” so I could see what it was or whatever.”

He added: “I had no idea that this was our people actually doing this. I thought it was like a, you know, like a funny thing that people share, you know, like nowadays there’s TikToks and this is all — you find anything you want on the internet.”

Officers would sometimes say things like “thirsty, fam?” across the radio ahead of an attack. Casper told investigators he thought they were talking about seeing “a hot girl or something like that.”

One officer told investigators he did not report the misconduct to supervisors because the supervisors already knew about it.

Detective Cabe Crain, an internal affairs investigator, wrote there was a “preponderance of evidence that Casper knew of and viewed videos of the incidents.”

Crain added: “Casper’s knowledge of the events, participation in the chat thread, and inaction on reporting and supervising Wilson and Flynn have brought discredit on the department. Wilson and Flynn actions were also allowed to continue by Sgt. Casper not taking action or properly reporting the incidents to the appropriate commanders.”

The reduction in Casper’s punishment comes as Louisville Metro Government negotiates a consent decree with the federal government following the Department of Justice’s scathing 2023 report on civil rights violations carried out by LMPD.

One of the DOJ’s conclusions was that LMPD “fails to impose meaningful consequences” for officer misconduct. Part of that failure, the DOJ said, was how LMPD’s chief “frequently” reduces punishments for officers and how the department does not explain why punishments are reduced.

Casper is the second LMPD officer to see his punishment for Slushygate slashed.

Last year, Detective Jonathan Robbins, who drove officers as they attacked civilians in at least three incidents in 2018, saw his punishment reduced from termination to a 30-day suspension.

LMPD Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel wrote that Robbins, who never reported the attacks, “showed genuine remorse” and that he was “an asset to this department.”

Reach reporter Josh Wood at jwood@courier-journal.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @JWoodJourno

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: LMPD reduces punishment for ex-supervisor connected to Slushygate