After 'savage beating' by Kentucky cops, he died in the back of a cruiser. Now, his family wants answers.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- He was 5 feet, 5 inches tall, 140 pounds and unarmed, surrounded by five law enforcement officers and a K-9.

But to subdue and arrest Alejandro Clarke Jr. in Hardin County last spring, officers said they had to hit him repeatedly — with a baton, their fists, boots, knees, elbows and flashlights — tase him four times and sic a K-9 on him three times.

And while an ambulance was at the scene, officers instead put him in the back of a cruiser to take him to the hospital, leaving Clarke alone inside for about 30 minutes. He went into cardiac arrest and was later pronounced dead.

"This was the most savage beating that I've seen," said attorney Garry Adams, who along with co-counsel David Ward recently filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Clarke's family against Kentucky State Police and the Hardin County Sheriff's Department and EMS.

"I've had cases where people were tased. ... cases where people were beaten but not where (so much) use of force happened along with the K-9 that resulted in the person's death," Adams said in an interview last week.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Louisville, claims police used excessive force, lied about it and violated protocol by not having EMS take him to a hospital after he was repeatedly tased.

During the struggle, according to one officer, Clarke yelled out "God help me. They're gonna kill me," and repeatedly referenced George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis man who died in 2020 after a white officer knelt on his neck as he pleaded, "I can't breathe."

A summary of the investigation by KSP concluded Clarke refused to get on the ground upon command, prompting the use of a K-9 and tasers to get him down and handcuffed.

A witness — the girlfriend's mother, Elizabeth Vinson, who lived across the street off Nolin Road in Sonora near Glendale — told police she saw Clarke walk to the officers and lie down on his back, his arms resting by his side.

A struggle ensued when officers attempted to turn him over onto his stomach, Vinson said.

Neither KSP nor the Hardin County Sheriff's Office wear body cameras, so there is no definitive proof as to what happened during Clarke's arrest. Both Adams and Ward said the lack of body cameras by either agency complicates the case.

It is yet another example of the ongoing transparency problem at KSP, the state's second-largest police agency behind the Louisville Metro Police Department. This case, like many others involving state police, is reliant on the word of the officers.

"It is a problem that the highest law enforcement agency in the commonwealth of Kentucky does not have body cams," Adams said of KSP.

The most recent state budget approved in March provides $12.2 million to launch a body cam program for KSP. A KSP spokesman, Capt. Paul Blanton, said the department is currently looking for a vendor with plans to eventually outfit 650 troopers with body cameras.

He said Clarke's death is still under investigation. 

The final medical examiner's report determined Clarke died of multisystem organ failure following cardiac arrest "due to multiple injuries resulting from law enforcement apprehension/subdual, restraint, complicated by methamphetamine toxicity."

The police investigation said Clarke, a 37-year-old father of two, was cleared by EMS at the scene to be taken to the hospital by police.

By all accounts, Clarke was having a psychotic episode on May 26, 2021, and was a danger to himself and others, assaulting his girlfriend, sending her to the hospital and prompting her mother to call police. Police said Clarke told them he had smoked meth that day as well.

Indeed, Clarke fought with the first deputy who arrived late that night, Hardin County Deputy Jacob Duke, biting the officer's arm as Duke tried to arrest him, according to investigative documents obtained by WDRB News. After Clarke then ran off, Duke called in reinforcements, and three KSP troopers and a lieutenant with the sheriff's department responded, along with a K-9.

"The only resistance that anybody saw was that he was waving one arm that wasn't handcuffed," Adams said. "When you have five people and a dog, you don't need to use the amount of force that was obviously used to get him under control and get that other arm in a handcuff."

But police said Clarke refused commands to show his hands and get on the ground, resulting in him being tased and the K-9 used. Clarke then resisted being handcuffed and was hit by police before the K-9 was again released on Clarke, according to the investigative report and interviews with the officers.

One officer later told investigators he was "dumbfounded" by the amount of officers and force it took to subdue Clarke.

"Like I said, he wasn't little, little, but he wasn't big either," Hardin County Lt. Taylor Miller said, according to a transcript of his interview with police. "I mean we should have been able to hang onto him to get him into cuffs."

In an interview later with police, Vinson said Clarke seemed confused after he initially lied down on his back.

"They kept saying, 'No, get over on your stomach,'" she said. "And so then he sits up and they, and they tell him, 'you're not listening to me' and he goes 'yeah I am.'"

Vinson said Clarke struggled with police when they turned him over and an officer put his knee on his back, according to a transcript of her interview with investigators.

"It sounded like he was sayin', what are ya doin? What are ya doing,'" she said. "You know, it's like he, he really didn't have a mental idea of what's happening, but I don't know."

When Clarke was handcuffed, Vinson said they walked him to a bench.

"He would sit there and hold his head up and then his head would just droop down," she said. "Just almost, like he had no control."

EMS workers on the scene checked Clarke — who told them he was in pain and short of breath — and turned him back over to police, according to the investigative documents. One officer said an EMT told Clarke he was "breathing just fine."

Adams said EMS did not provide any medical treatment.

Vinson, a physical therapist assistant and certified nursing assistant, said she thought it was "weird" police put Clarke in a cruiser and not the ambulance and that no one seemed that worried about his condition.

"Nobody seemed to get too excited," she told investigators. "I mean, they were just walkin' around, checkin' him out and – but then, that's when, after he sat there awhile, they stood him up and took him to the police car and, to me, that was like a huh?"

Vinson did not want to be interviewed for this story but said in an email to WDRB that "when I called the Police, I never imagined the outcome. ... I don't believe Alex (Clarke) had ANY items of deadly force on him so why the (tasers)? I understand the dog subdued him so why the need for (tasers)?"

In the investigative report, police said Vinson told them that night that Clarke should have complied with their instructions and "thought all law enforcement involved did an excellent job and complimented them on the performance of their duties."

Pictures of Clarke in the police documents show his face badly bruised and swollen with large gashes on his arms and legs from K-9 bites. His nose was split open and he was bleeding from one of his ears. He also had bite marks and bruises on his back.

"He should have been rushed to the hospital immediately," Adams said.

A coroner said a fracture in Clarke's neck from blunt force would have left him unresponsive within "minutes."

On March 3, a Hardin County grand jury declined to charge any of the officers involved.

"They haven't been held accountable, and this could happen again," Ward said. "There is no reason that amount of force should be used against an individual."

The Hardin County Sheriff's Office said Friday that Deputy Duke no longer works for the county and instead works in a private sector. Lt. Miller is still employed with the office.

KSP spokesman, Capt. Paul Blanton, sent WDRB News the following statement Thursday evening regarding the case:

"The Kentucky State Police (KSP) conducts investigations into the agency’s use of force incidents to ensure compliance with the law and existing policies and procedures, and to identify training or equipment needs. If a violation of either the law or policies and procedures occurred, disciplinary action would be recommended, and remedial training modifications may be considered. Additionally, use of force incidents are reviewed by command staff to verify the response was within policy guidelines. 

The KSP Critical Incident Response Team investigated the May 27, 2021, in-custody death in Hardin County of Alejandro Clarke. The investigation was submitted to the Hardin County Commonwealth’s Attorney Office, which was then presented to a grand jury on March 3, 2022. No officers were indicted.

The troopers involved were placed on administrative duty during the internal investigation.

Due to the ongoing legal proceedings, KSP cannot comment further."