Shocking phone videos filmed by Louisville Police Department officers show them throwing slushies at unsuspecting residents after slowing their unmarked cruisers to sneak up on the victims.
Curtis Flynn, 40, and Bryan Wilson, 36, recorded attacking innocent pedestrians on the streets of West Louisville, Kentucky, between August 2018 and September 2019, in what became known as “Slushygate.”
The video, obtained by the Courier Magazine Under the state's public records law, only a portion of the 24 attacks identified by the medium are disclosed.
The officers shared the videos with colleagues in a group chat and huddled around their phones during breaks, the publication reported.
Wilson and Flynn pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating the rights of West Louisville residents by indiscriminate use of force in October 2022.
Shocking phone videos filmed by Louisville police officers show them throwing slushies at unsuspecting residents after slowing down their unmarked cruisers to sneak up on the victims
The video, obtained by the Courier Journal under the state's open records law, reveals only a fraction of the 24 attacks identified by the newspaper.
Bryan Wilson (left), 36, and Curtis Flynn (right), 40, recorded attacking innocent pedestrians on the streets of West Louisville, Kentucky, between August 2018 and September 2019, in what became known as “Slushygate.”
“This is an unacceptable series of incidents,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said in an interview with WHAS11adding that the attacks happened years before he became mayor.
Flynn was sentenced to three months in prison and Wilson to 30 months after the two pleaded guilty to civil rights violations.
In the video, an officer is heard saying, “Dude, I actually feel bad for that.” The other answers with a laugh: 'I know. I have it on film.'
In another disturbing clip, an officer says: “Against the building. Oh, she's ready.'
“Don't miss it,” he said as the police vehicle approached an unsuspecting woman walking on the street.
“Get her,” the officer is seen throwing a large cup of drink at the innocent citizen, and the two burst out laughing.
According to local reports, in one incident officers said on police radio: “Someone was thirsty” and “fam is thirsty.”
In another attack, an officer is heard yelling, “Hey honey, got change for a dollar?” before asking, “How about a drink!”
An officer then launched his drink at the woman walking with an umbrella outside a pizza restaurant in the South End, an underserved part of the city.
In a total of 24 random attacks, at least one victim was knocked to the ground.
“Dude just fell!” one officer exclaimed in the aftermath of the attack.
Flynn and Wilson were part of Ninth Mobile, an elite police unit charged with preventing drug and gun crime in Louisville, but also known for their brutality and abuse of power.
The officers shared the videos with colleagues in a group chat and sat around their phones during breaks
Flynn and Wilson were part of Ninth Mobile, an elite police unit charged with preventing drug and gun crime in Louisville, but also known for their brutality and abuse of power.
'The reputation was that they took a lot of guns off the street. They made a lot of arrests,” said Deputy Chief of the Louisville Police Department Steve Healey.
'You only really heard about all these other things when you saw the news reports appear, you saw the complaints appear.'
'That's really bad. And it's such a petty way,” Peter Moskos, a former Baltimore police officer who now teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said of the attacks.
He added that the fact that officers shared the video with colleagues only made things worse, “because it reflects an appalling disregard for the community.”
LMPD Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel suspended four officers who knew about the incidents but failed to report them, and a fifth who was driving the cruiser during the attacks.
“I thought this was just some stupid prank that special forces were pulling,” Detective Joseph Howell, who was given a 10-day suspension earlier this year, told investigators.
Howell, commenting on a particular Slushygate attack, said, “And everyone seems to be okay with it.”
Detective Beau Gadegaard, who was also suspended for 10 days, said: 'If I had gone to the police [commanding officer] at that point I would have been 100 percent cut out. I would have been isolated without a doubt.”
Detective Jonathan Robbins said the unit had “a culture where what happens in the house is dealt with in the house and the rest of the department doesn't need to know our dirty laundry.”
Sergeant Kevin Casper texted, “Y'all need to use the slo mo feature” when one of the videos was shared in the group message.
He denied knowledge of the abuse, but was suspended for 30 days for failing supervision. He is appealing against his suspension.
At least five officers who were either directly involved in the Slushygate attacks or were aware of and commented on the incidents are still on the force, the Courier Journal reported.
Three of them are part of the Criminal Interdiction Division, which succeeded Ninth Mobile after it was disbanded in 2019.
LMPD Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel suspended four officers who were aware of the incidents but failed to report, and a fifth who was driving the cruiser during the attacks.
“This is an unacceptable series of incidents,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said in an interview
Mayor Greenberg said the attacks happened before he and current LMPD Chief Villaroel were in office.
“We are focused on improving the culture of LMPD, proactively working with the community, building trust with the community, and we want to have an LMPD that trusts and respects everyone,” Greenberg said.
'We are focused on a completely different way of training, we have improved the focus on guidance. Such incidents will not be tolerated by either Chief Gwinn-Villaroel or myself.”
After the videos were released, an LMPD spokesperson responded by saying the incidents are a painful part of LMPD history.
“It is understandable that the videos of the drink-throwing incidents from 2018 through 2019 are disturbing and disturbing to the public,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“For context, the individuals responsible for throwing the drinks faced federal charges and others involved are no longer employed by LMPD and/or have been disciplined.”
“The department has implemented reforms that emphasize constitutional policing while restoring trust in the community.”
“We have improved oversight and updated our Training Academy to place greater emphasis on the duty to intervene, de-escalation and officer accountability.
“LMPD has sound [internal affairs] units. The Accountability and Improvement Office was established; we continually evaluate ourselves to ensure best practices and promote constitutional policing.”