LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — You may remember Alvin Davis Jr. from the University of Kentucky football team. He’s originally from Florida, but he signed with the UK and played from 2010 to 2014. Lexington has been his home ever since, and it's where his two young daughters are, whom he works hard to provide for.
"I'll be here for a while,” says Davis.
Davis got a job at Southeastern Freight Lines in 2022 with the hope of one day getting a CDL, but Davis says it only took a few short months for him to notice he was being treated differently at work.
He says, "You know they started doing stuff and asking me to do stuff that they weren't asking other drivers to do. And at first, I was completely fine with it. I dealt with that for some time and didn't say anything, until it was just too much."
He says he was never properly trained on the job. There was another black employee that Davis says took him under his wing. Alvin believes that employee was racially targeted as well. But last summer, things got more serious, and it’s all caught on camera.
It was last summer that the video shows Davis's supervisor Kevin Kiper locked him in a trailer at Southeastern Freight Lines. LEX 18’s Weather Center shows that when this happened on July 19, the high was 84 degrees that day. Alvin says when the door locked, he was in shock.
"Shock. I went into shock, you know started thinking about past things that had happened to me and for a second there I was just paralyzed. You know for I don't know how many seconds it was, but I was paralyzed, and I finally came to and figured out I need to get myself out of here or I’m gonna end up... Things are going to end badly for me,” says Davis.
He says the experience took him back to a difficult childhood memory. "Yes, I was locked in a closet as a child -- as a young, young child -- while some things were happening to a loved one.”
Davis says it was hot and dark in the trailer and there's no handle inside. He told me he was able to get his fingers under the door to pull it up and get himself out. Instead of an apology, Alvin says his supervisors laughed it off as a joke. He caught this on camera after the incident.
Lexington Police charged Davis's supervisor, Kevin Kiper, with unlawful imprisonment. Court records show Kiper pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.
Alvin says he's dealt with a lot in the past year including sleepless nights, therapy, and the people closest to him have seen a change too. Alvin says the company left him no choice, but to take legal action.
Davis's attorney, Lauren Brooke who is a partner at Smith O’Toole & Brooke, says, "We've filed suit, we've sent letters, we've told them that this is not okay and he's still going through this with them. They're cutting his hours, they're still making comments to him, they're taking zero liability, [saying] 'oh it was a joke,' well it wasn't a joke to Alvin."
Davis and his attorney say Kiper is still working at the company and Alvin has to report to him every day. And as far as he and his attorney know, he hasn't faced any disciplinary action from the company. Alvin explains that playing at UK for years taught him the value of discipline and teamwork -- it's shaped the way he lives his life. He also says it's made this situation even harder to understand.
"You know I gave southeastern the opportunity to fix things, to take accountability. So, when they didn't do that, I filed charges on Kevin Kiper, rightfully so and they're still trying to put in a not guilty plea. So, this is our last resort,” says Davis.
LEX 18 did reach out to Southeastern Freight Lines and its legal representatives and have not heard back.
