Kentucky police officer fired for passing info to BLM protest leader

Authorities in Lexington, Kentucky, have fired a police officer for passing information on his fellow cops to a Black Lives Matter protest leader. The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted unanimously to convict Jervis Middleton on administrative charges of overall misconduct and sharing internal police information for leaking instructions of what to say to police and which officers were working during protests. Middleton objected, saying what he sent to Sarah Williams, a local leader of the Black Lives Matter protests, did not endanger any police officers. He initially denied sending any information at all. His lawyers further argued that he had been subjected to racist insults by other officers and was upset that nothing was being done about racism on the force. The ACLU called Middleton’s firing “concerning,” noting that he was “more swiftly investigated and harshly punished for sharing non-critical information than officers who use excessive force against protesters or create the culture of racism and hostility Middleton reported to no avail.” Both the city’s police chief and an internal department board had recommended Middleton’s firing.