LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A federal grand jury in Louisville has charged one former and two current Kentucky State Police Troopers with using unreasonable force for beating or tasing several people without reason over the past four years.
Among other charges, the three men are accused of stomping and kicking a person identified only as "Victim 1" without legal justification.
In all, former trooper Thomas Czartorski, was charged with two counts of using unreasonable force. Current trooper Jarrod Lewis, 29, was charged with one count of using unreasonable force.
And current trooper James Cameron Wright, 30, was charged with two counts of using unreasonable force and one count of perjury.
Four victims in total are mentioned in the indictment between 2020 and 2024.
In a statement, a KSP spokeswoman said the department is "is committed to upholding the highest standards of professionalism, ethics and morals in service to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky."
The statement added that Czartoski has not been employed by the agency since Feb. 3, 2021, and effective on Tuesday, Troopers Wright and Lewis have been suspended pending legal outcome of the case.
This is the second indictment for former Kentucky State Police trooper Thomas Czartorski, who pleaded guilty in state court in 2023 to lying under oath about hitting a man with a flashlight while arresting him in 2020. The case was first reported by KyCIR.
The April 2020 beating was caught on security video from inside the home.
Czartorski was charged with perjury and sentenced to three years diversion, meaning he would not serve any time in prison as long as he stays out of trouble.
As part of the June 14, 2023 plea agreement in Jefferson Circuit Court, Czartorski was removed from the military after a 17-year career. He is also prohibited from seeking another job in law enforcement.
The most recent federal charges accuse Czartorski of stomping and kicking a person, identified only as “Victim 1,” in the back ankles and feet on March 5, 2020.
In the same incident, Lewis stomped and kicked Victim 1 in the face, head and shoulders, according to the indictment.
Wright is also accused of kicking Victim 1 in the head, shoulders and torso. None of the three troopers had legal justification for the attack, according to the indictment.
On April 3, 2020, Czartorski, 34, struck another person, “Victim 2,” in the legs and torso with a flashlight. This appears to be the case he was previously charged with perjury for.
The indictment alleges that Wright tased a third person, “Victim 3,” on March 12, 2024, without justification.
And on Jan. 22, 2021, Wright was charged with perjury for allegedly lying under oath about the use of force in an April 9, 2020 arrest of “Victim 4,” specifically whether he hit the victim with closed fist or elbow, according to the indictment.
“I did not strike him with anything,” Wright said, according to the indictment. “Other than taking him to the ground, there was no force used.”
The indictment claims Wright knew that was a lie and did use force on Victim 4 during the arrest.
The three men are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Louisville on April 3.
This story will be updated.
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