Sigh. More wonderful news out of my home state of Kentucky. First, one of the cops involved with shooting Breonna Taylor is now being investigated for sexually assaulting two women. And one of the ministers who won a Kentucky court case allowing in person attendance for church services has now had to shut down his church because 18 of his congregants have tested positive for COVID-19.
Hollywood script writers couldn’t make this stuff up.
Louisville police officer in Breonna Taylor shooting accused of sexual assault
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville Metro Police Department is investigating accusations made by at least two women who say they were sexually assaulted by an officer involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.
The allegations posted on social media against Officer Brett Hankison, 44, are similar, saying that he offered intoxicated women a ride home from bars before sexually assaulting them.
"We are aware of these posts, and investigators are looking into the allegations," LMPD spokeswoman Jessie Halladay said in an email. "If anyone has information about these cases, we encourage them to call (502) 574-7144."
There is the Facebook account by one Margo Borders who alleges that Hankison sexually assaulted her:
In April of 2018 I went out to a bar with some friends. I went to call an uber home and a police officer who I had interacted with on many occasions at bars in St. Matthews offered me a ride home. He drove me home in uniform, in his marked car, invited himself into my apartment and sexually assaulted me while I was unconscious.
It took me months to process what had happened and to realize that it wasn’t my fault and I didn’t ask for that to happen by allowing him to give me a ride home. I never reported him out of fear of retaliation. I had no proof of what happened and he had the upper hand because he was a police officer. Who do you call when the person who assaulted you is a police officer? Who were they going to believe? I knew it wouldn’t be me.
There is also another story on Instagram about Hankison by one Emily Terry. The link to her Instagram account and story is in the article.
As to the other bit of awful but predictable news out of Kentucky, 18 members of the Clays Mill Baptist Church have tested positive for COVID-19. What’s so special about that you ask? Let’s go into some details about Pastor Fugate of this church:
Clays Mill Baptist Church in Jessamine County, Kentucky, has temporarily halted in-person worship services after at least 18 members recently tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
But pastor Jeff Fugate, who stood alongside Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron in April and called for Gov. Andy Beshear to lift restrictions on in-person worship, stressed there is "no indication" anyone contracted the virus while at church.
"I decided it would just be best to go back to online services until we can figure out exactly what's going on and we can figure out what to do," Fugate told The Courier Journal on Saturday. "... The last thing I want is for my folks to get sick."
But Randy Gooch, executive director of the Jessamine County Health Department, said evidence suggests the cases are linked to attendance at the church.
“Our disease investigation is indicative of these cases tracing back to their contact with other cases at Clays Mill Baptist,” Gooch said. “Our initial case was confirmed symptomatic when they attended church, so this gives us good reason to believe they are connected.”
According to the Jeff Fugate, his church members did NOT get the coronavirus from attending is church. Oh no. They got it from someplace else, even though the Health Department calls BS on his statement. You see, Fugate brought suit against Beshear’s closing of in person worship at churches. And he won the case and got his precious church to open ahead of schedule.
That came after a federal judge had ruled in favor of Tabernacle Baptist Church, also in Nicholasville, in its lawsuit that sought to block enforcement of Beshear's order barring in-person worship amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The May 8 ruling from U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove allowed churches around the commonwealth to resume in-person gatherings slightly ahead of schedule. Beshear had said he would lift the church gathering ban on May 20.
Fugate said he also gathered staff and some families at Clays Mill Baptist Church on May 10 not for worship but to explain the various social distancing measures and safety guidelines that would be in place as in-person services restarted.
Those precautions included spreading out people in pews, asking members over the age of 60 to stay home and having hand sanitizer readily available, Fugate said.
On Memorial Day, the day after the May 24 worship services, Fugate said several members received positive COVID-19 test results.
Let me see. He gathers some of “his staff and some families” on May 10th. They supposedly take all these precautions, but on May 25th several of his members tested positive for the coronavirus.
Fugate has been a big critic of Governor Andy Beshear, and Beshear had a lovely comment about this news.
Beshear and Fugate took swipes at each other Monday after the governor was asked about the COVID-19 cases impacting Clays Mill Baptist Church members.
"I hope that everybody (who) tested positive from services at Clays Mill has seen or talked to a doctor," Beshear said near the end of his daily briefing on the coronavirus situation in Kentucky. "We want all of you to be OK."
Beshear then mentioned how Fugate stood with Cameron in April and said, "Governor, we can do this safely."
"Well, he couldn’t," Beshear said.
Fugate responded to Beshear in a Facebook post Monday night, telling the governor his statement earlier in the day was "wrong."
Uh, Pastor Fugate? Beshear isn’t the one who got 18 people infected with a deadly virus. So maybe you were arrogant and wrong? Yeah, I think so.
Nothing like a bad cop and spreading coronavirus to make the day eventful.