Jeffersonville Police hires former LMPD officer with history of controversial traffic stops

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A former detective with the Louisville Metro Police Department accused of profiling and harassing African American drivers landed a new job in southern Indiana. 

Jeffersonville Police confirmed the hiring of former LMPD Ninth Mobile Division Officer Kevin Crawford as a patrolman. 

"I stand behind him with what he does with his job," Jeffersonville Police Chief Kenny Kavanaugh said. "I cannot take back what occurred, and I don't know the specifics of that, but ... Crawford being employed with the city of Jeffersonville, there's going to be a certain way he conducts his policing."

Crawford is named in at least three federal civil rights lawsuits involving LMPD. Black drivers say they were profiled and harassed during Louisville's effort to crack down on drugs and guns in poor communities. They argue that they were treated like criminals for minor traffic violations.

The conduct of Crawford and other officers tied to LMPD's Ninth Mobile Division sparked outrage when body camera video of several stops from 2018 emerged, most notably that of 18-year-old Tae-Ahn Lea. He was the teenager stopped on the way home from a Louisville convenience store who's frantic phone call, saying, "Mamma they're taking me out of the car," has been viewed more than 1 million times on social media video. Lea was handcuffed, frisked and made to wait on the side of the road for a drug search with a K-9 after making a wide right turn. Officers found nothing illegal in his car.

Metro Council members condemned LMPD for "hyper policing." The department updated its traffic stop policies and retrained all officers. 

"We do not experience or have those claims of racial bias or profiling with our stops," Kavanaugh said of policing in Jeffersonville. 

The leader of the Jeffersonville Police Department is African American and said he reviewed footage from the Lea stop before hiring Crawford. And he said he knows exactly what he would tell any member of the public who has a problem with his decision. 

"I would respond and say that I see a police officer trying to do a job that he is sworn to do, and at that stop, there was some communication things happening on both sides with the parties, and I will leave it at that," Kavanaugh said.

Crawford resigned from LMPD in June in the middle of an internal investigation and was hired in Jeffersonville that same month. Kavanaugh said there was no discipline in his record from LMPD. Kavanaugh also liked that Crawford was a U.S. Marine veteran and brought prior police experience to the force.

Crawford received 300 hours of training in Jeffersonville before hitting the street, and there's already an interaction with the public in his personnel file.

Earl Pierce, 84, told police supervisors Crawford went beyond the call of duty in August while fixing a flat tire.

"It was wonderful, because we were in a position — a very precarious position — with traffic zooming by at all times, and you couldn't exit the car without putting yourself in trouble," Pierce said.

Kavanaugh won't call it a second chance, but for Crawford, it is certainly a new beginning.

"He's been a great officer and an ambassador to the city of Jeffersonville," Kavanaugh said.

With pending litigation, Crawford could not comment for this report.

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