A federal judge has dismissed 10 of the 11 claims in a lawsuit filed by five University of Kentucky football players against the Lexington Police Department.
In the lawsuit filed in September 2022, the players – R.J. Adams, JuTahn McClain, Andru Phillips, Vito Tisdale and Joel Williams – claimed that Lexington police officer Cory Vinlove (Officer Vinlove) tried to “frame” them “for a crime they did not commit” as a way to “further his own career and embarrass the University of Kentucky football program.” The lawsuit also listed the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG), and two other individual defendants.
The court’s ruling dismissed all claims against LFUCG and the individual defendants, leaving only a state law claim against Officer Vinlove.
By way of background, the players had been charged with first-degree burglary in August 2021, which had allegedly taken place at an off-campus fraternity party earlier that year. However, a grand jury declined to indict the players.
Elliot Slosar, an attorney at Chicago-based civil rights law firm Loevy & Loevy, said in the September 2022 news release that the lawsuit “is another tragic example of the damage caused by corrupt policing in America. It is shocking how Officer Cory Vinlove, in spite of objective evidence and the University of Kentucky’s thorough investigation, damaged so many lives. As the lawsuits demonstrate, these five young Black men were targeted by a white officer with an axe to grind and determined to make a name for himself.
“The false initiation of charges stripped these players of their innocence and prevented them from enjoying college and playing football for the University of Kentucky, a program they love. R.J., JuTahn, Andru, Devito, and Joel bring this lawsuit to get justice for the damage caused and to hold Defendant Vinlove and others responsible for their egregious misconduct.”
The federal judge, however, viewed the case differently than Slosar, ruling that the football players were not deprived of their constitutional liberty interests, but also acknowledging the charges were damaging to the players’ reputations.
Student conduct records obtained by the Lexington Herald-Leader suggested that alcohol and racial slurs “played a significant role” in the incident leading to the charges.
When the University of Kentucky learned of its players’ involvement in the incident, it suspended the players from all team activities. In June 2021, the players were reinstated after a university investigation cleared them, only to be suspended again after criminal charges were filed in August of the same year. The players were finally cleared to return to the team after the grand jury declined to indict.
