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Protester gives demands to city of Lexington

Posted at 8:16 PM, Jun 03, 2020
and last updated 2020-06-03 20:36:57-04

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Since Friday protesters have taken to the streets of Lexington to stand up against police brutality.

Local event organizer April Taylor says it was sparked by national events but it's more than that.

"It's not just protesting for the sake of protest," Taylor said. "It's not just about Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. We actually have local demands that will keep black and indigenous people of color here in Lexington safer."

Taylor says they will keep protests until the city meets their demands, they have four:
1. End the disqualification of misconduct complaints that are submitted too many days after an incident occurs or if an investigation takes too long to complete.
2. End LFUCG being required to pay costs related to police misconduct including paying legal fees and/or costs of settlements.
3. Stop preventing information on past misconduct investigation from being recorded or retained in an officers personal file
4. Stop limiting disciplinary consequences for officers to just counseling
The deadline to change the collective bargaining agreement in the city is June 30, so Taylor says they may continue to protest until then.

LEX 18 asked Mayor Linda Gorton if she has considered these demands, and she says she will review any civilian ideas and is working to launch a committee to review possible changes and recommendations for the police department.

"We cannot ignore this, this is not that type of situation, and different people have different issues," Gorton said. "We want to see different things my feeling is we take all this energy, and we have a group of folks that represent the whole community, and we ask them to sit at the table to vet through some of these issues to be better."

Both Mayor Linda Gorton and Taylor are pleased things have remained peaceful in Lexington