Police program abused children, suit alleges

Two University of Louisville graduate students who worked in a Metro Police summer residential program for at-risk youths say officers mentally and physically abused some participants.

In a lawsuit filed this week in Jefferson Circuit Court, the students, both counselors, claim they were retaliated against for reporting the alleged abuse to supervisors in the Gentleman's Academy and to the state office of Child Protective Services.

Erica Buckner, 30, and Alexis Keen, 24, say in the suit that police officers cursed, threatened, punched and tackled some of the participants, one of whom was slammed into a wall and face down into a picnic table, then denied water and food.

Deputy Police Chief Yvette Gentry, who runs the program, said she couldn't comment on the allegations because of the lawsuit, but she said, "I love kids and would never hurt them or allow anyone to hurt them."

She called the academy "a wonderful program" and said it has "helped turned some young men's lives around."

Two parents whose sons attended the academy this summer said their children did not mention any abuse.

In the suit, which names metro government and University of Louisville, Buckner and Keen allege that police officers assigned to provide security and physical training tried to turn the program into a boot camp. They said the scholars — as they are called — were awakened at 3 a.m. on the first day this summer and forced to run stairs and do push-ups until many were in pain.

"The mindset was that some scholars needed to be cursed and roughed up," said Buckner, a doctoral student in clinical psychology. "The officers just had this notion that this is the way we handle people on the street and this is the way we are going to do it in the academy."

In the six-week program, which was offered for the second time this summer, participants stay in a Spalding University dormitory and are offered training in academics, decision-making and anger management. They also are taken on hikes and bike rides and exposed to cultural events.

The city and private donors paid the costs.

Forty student began the program in 2013, of which 24 graduated, while this summer 24 of 31 completed it.

In an interview, Helen Long, whose 16-year-old son attended this summer, said he never mentioned anything about physical or mental abuse.

Diangella Shipp said her 15-year-old didn't like the mandatory exercise ordered for disciplinary infractions – "everybody was held accountable so everybody exercised" – but they needed discipline and that her son looked forward to returning each week.

"They really worked with these children," she said, including her son, whose behavior she described as much improved.

The suit identifies the two officers who abused participants as Clayton Reeves, who allegedly slammed the one and bent his arm around his back "almost to the breaking point"; and Antoine Frye, who allegedly tackled another student who had stopped for break during physical training.

Officer Carey Klain, a department spokeswoman, said they couldn't comment because the suit is pending.

Buckner and Keen say in the suit that Gentry and university officials accused them of trying to ruin the relationship between the department and the school. Both allege their pay was cut in retaliation.

Keen, who was a mental health facilitator in Gentleman's Academy, also alleges she has been removed from a university laboratory and her name stripped from awards.

Buckner, who was mental health program director, said the university's clinical psychology department has recommended that she be removed from its doctoral program, although she acknowledged that is in part to a charge that she failed to disclose a corporate affiliation, which she denies.

U of L spokesman Mark Herbert said the school doesn't comment on pending litigation or individual students.

The plaintiffs' attorney, Thomas Clay, said his clients were punished for doing the right thing.

"They filed this suit because Gentleman's Academy was supposed to be a positive experience for these young scholars," he said.

He said officials are supposed to meet Oct. 1 to talk about whether the program will continue next summer.

Klain said she doesn't see any reason that it won't. "It has been very positive," she said.

Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189.