Louisville's youth detention center director resigns after crashing city-issued vehicle

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A new interim director of Youth Transitional Services in Louisville has been named after a resignation.

Toni Rice was the former director of the department. According to a news release, Rice resigned on Aug. 20. Rice had been under investigation since Aug. 1 after her city-issued vehicle was involved in a single-vehicle crash.

In late July, Michael Scheser was on his way home from the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport when he spotted a car in a ditch just off Brownsboro Road, near Interstate 71.

"I noticed a car with its lights on on the opposite side of the guardrail," Scheser said. "This is like 11:30 at night."

Scheser checked to see if someone was inside the car.

Crashed vehicle on Brownsboro Road.jpg — Crashed vehicle on Brownsboro Road near Interstate 71 in Louisville, Ky.

"I got out and went to the guardrail, and I saw a woman sitting in the car, in the driver's seat, she still had her seatbelt on," Scheser said.

He didn't know how long the car had been there, but he said the driver was alert and moving.

"I yelled out to her, 'are you okay?' and she's like 'yes, I'm fine. I've called police, I've called my friends, everyone is on the way,'" Scheser said.

But Scheser was hesitant to leave the scene.

"So I turned around back to my wife, and I said, 'call 911, something doesn't seem right,'" Scheser said.

While Scheser and his wife stayed at the scene, he said the driver did not.

"I thought she was just trying to shake off the accident," Scheser said. "You know how you may be nervously pacing, and so I'm watching her, and she's on her phone and she kept walking."

By the time police showed up, the driver was gone. But Scheser said she was seen on security footage walking through a nearby neighborhood.

"She's walking and talking on her phone, and she actually even took a picture of our street sign, I guess to help whoever was coming to pick her up know where she was going," he said.

Scheser doesn't know the identity of the driver or who picked her up, but he believes police do.

"They said that's on camera," he said. "The police said they have that vehicle on camera."

The Louisville Metro Police Department's Public Integrity Unit is investigating the crash.

"There's currently an LMPD investigation, so I'll be very limited in what I'll be able to speak about," Deputy Mayor David James said.

James confirmed Rice resigned, and her city-issued vehicle was involved in a crash.

Louisville Metro Corrections Maj. Steven Gilbert was named the interim director of the department responsible for local youth in the juvenile justice system. Gilbert has been the leader of the Metro Corrections Training Academy and worked extensively with staff at Youth Transitional Services on training and protocols for criminally involved youth.

According to a news release, Gilbert joined Metro Corrections in 2005. He previously served as Major of Security Operations before being promoted to Training Major in 2023.

"For nearly two decades, Steven Gilbert has admirably served this community as a leader at Metro Corrections," James said in a news release. "He has been a mentor to many corrections officers over the years, and I know he will use those leadership skills to continue to build on the positive momentum we have at Youth Transitional Services."

The department is amidst a transition out of its current location at 720 West Jefferson Street in downtown Louisville. That facility is being transferred to the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice.

On December 31, 2019, Louisville Metro Youth Detention Center on Jefferson Street closed and the next day it became Louisville Youth Transitional Services. An organization that uses the first floor of the building to help arrested and convicted youth going to court and with transfer services to detention centers around the state.

Last year, lawmakers passed $17.1 million to renovate the old building into a modern, safe juvenile detention center. The city of Louisville authorizing a transfer of the property to the state.

Related Stories: