FRANKFORT, Ky — A former Frankfort Police Department sergeant was on unpaid suspension for unrelated incidents on the day he was caught on Ring camera berating a young child in Georgetown, records show.
Sgt. Billy Graves resigned from the department not long after the Georgetown incident, the police chief confirmed. In the video, which was provided to LEX 18, Graves, who was off duty, can be heard yelling at the nine-year-old boy that he was a cop, and that he was going to arrest the child and cite his parents.
“I'd like very much to apologize to Shamiko (the boy’s mother) for how I spoke to her son,” Graves told LEX 18 Tuesday. “It was highly unprofessional and does not speak to my character.”
Shamiko Jackson told LEX 18 she forgives Graves and is moving forward. Graves’ apology goes to her son, Dreyson, she said.
LEX 18 recently obtained Graves’ personnel file through an open records request, and it shows that he had been under internal investigation for conduct violations with the police department.
Among multiple reported violations that led to a four-day suspension in February was Graves’ frequent failure to wear or turn on his body-worn camera.
Graves and other Frankfort police officers responded as backup to a situation in December that ended in a Franklin County Sheriff’s Deputy shooting and killing a man in December. Graves was the only person with the Frankfort Police Department at the scene who did not have a body camera on, according to his file.
Graves arrived to the scene of the shooting later than most with his department who responded, and he didn’t approach the scene until after the man had been shot, according to the personnel file. Graves worked a 12-hour shift that day, and there were only 3 minutes and 49 seconds of body camera footage.
The internal investigation into Graves’ conduct showed body camera issues beyond the day of the shooting, according to the file.
The investigation also found that Graves watched inappropriate videos while on-duty in his police cruiser, and searched the web while driving, according to his personnel file. In a report included in the file, a captain with the police department recommended Graves be demoted at the end of the investigation.
Graves was still a sergeant at the time of his resignation.
