Former Kentucky State Police trooper pleads guilty in federal court for civil rights violations

Thomas Czartorski was charged with two counts of using unreasonable force for beating and tasing several people without reason for several years.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A former Kentucky State Police trooper pleaded guilty Wednesday afternoon to civil rights violations in federal court in Louisville.

Thomas Czartorski pleaded guilty to deprivation of rights under the color of law, meaning he used unreasonable force. He was charged with two counts of using unreasonable force for beating and tasing several people without reason for several years.

Czartorski faces a recommended 30-month prison sentence, plus three years of supervision. A judge will have the final say at his formal sentencing Nov. 4.

Two other troopers, Jarrod Lewis and James Cameron Wright, were also indicted in the case by a federal grand jury in Louisville.

Four victims are mentioned in the indictment between 2020 and 2024.

The 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.

This was the second indictment for 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.

Czartorski was charged with perjury in that case and sentenced to three years of diversion, meaning he would not serve any time in prison as long as he stayed out of trouble.