Kentucky State Trooper James Cameron Wright was already facing 25 years in prison for abusing citizens in the line of duty when he was sued Monday for abusing yet another citizen by tasering him repeatedly while the man was already on the ground, ordering him to “get on the ground.”
The latest incident was captured on police body camera, revealing Wright to be a sadistic cop who seemed to take pleasure in torturing a man named Dawson Blevins, who had committed no crime, a pattern Wright had maintained for years with little repercussion.
But karma finally caught up to the 30-year-old cop in March when he was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of excessive force and one count of perjury for lying about incidents spanning from 2020 that are unrelated to the latest incident described in the recent lawsuit.
The latest incident to come to light took place last year when Wright pulled over a car driven by a man named Arturo Cordova while Blevins was sitting in the passenger seat, according to the lawsuit obtained by Atlanta Black Star.
Listed as defendants along with Wright are Kentucky state troopers Jeremy Smith, Morris W. Farris, Brad Riley, Matthew J. Johnson, Michael Rogers, Chad White and Phillip Burnett Jr., who are all accused of violating Blevins’ Fourth and 14 Amendment rights by protecting and covering up Wright over the years.
“This was not the first time that Defendant Wright has engaged in flagrant violations of citizens’ rights to be free from excessive force (it is at least the fourth that we know of), and indeed, this involves a pattern and practice on the part of Defendant Wright and other Troopers to utilize excessive force and then have it covered up or ignored by KSP supervision,” the claim states.
Blevins ended up spending more than four months in jail on charges of obstructing governmental operations, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance. All charges were dismissed earlier this month, according to WDRB-TV.
Seatbelt Violation
It was over a seatbelt violation that Wright pulled over Cordova on June 19, 2024, as he was driving with Blevins to work at a construction site.
The cop discovered that Cordova was on probation for an unspecified crime and began accusing him of having a marijuana roach in the car, which Cordova denied, telling the cop he no longer consumes marijuana because of his probation.
Wright placed Cordova in the back of his patrol car, then walked up to Blevins sitting in the passenger seat, ordering him to step out of the car since he had probable cause that there was a roach in the car, threatening to physically remove him from the car.
Blevins removed his seatbelt and began complying with the cop, but reached for his phone to begin recording.
“Don’t reach inside the vehicle, step out of the vehicle,” Wright orders.
“F-ck you, man,” responds Blevins under his breath, which angered the cop, but it is considered protected speech by the court system.
“You want to go to jail, keep it up,” Wright says.
“I’m not scared of jail,” Blevins says, stepping out of the car with a phone, wallet and pack of cigarettes in his hand.
“Well, I can oblige with that,” Wright tells him while grabbing his wrist. “Don’t reach for anything, drop what you got in your hands.”
“No, I’m videotaping,” Blevins responds as the cops shove him to the ground.
“You’re under arrest, get on the ground,” Wright tells Blevins.
“For what?” Blevins asks as he tries to stand back up.
The cop begins tasering him, forcing Blevins to fall on the ground while crying out in pain.
“Get on the ground, you’re going to get it again!” the cop yells while tasering the man who was already on the ground.
“I’m on the ground!” Blevins cries out.
The cop then orders him to lie on his stomach and put his hands behind his back while still tasering him.
“I can’t!” Blevins cries out as he is being tortured and shocked.
The cop continues repeating his orders while tasering him, then pulls out his pepper spray to mace him in the eyes, even though it was clear from the video that Blevins was not a threat.
“Trooper Wright repeatedly and gratuitously applied and continued applying force, which inflicted pain and caused injury to the Plaintiff, who posed no threat to his safety, did not attempt to flee, and offered no resistance to Trooper Wright,” the claim states.
“As a result of the encounter, the Plaintiff ended up with two compression fractures to his thoracic spine,” the attorneys wrote.
Wright’s Indictment
Wright began working for the Kentucky State Police in 2019 and was already abusing his power by 2020, according to the federal indictment from March 4, which also lists two other troopers, Jarrod Lewis and Thomas Czartorski as also facing federal charges.
The indictment states that on March 5, 2020, Wright repeatedly kicked a suspect in the head, shoulders and torso “without legal justification.”
The indictment also states that on Jan. 22, 2021, Wright committed perjury by lying on the witness stand about beating another suspect on April 9, 2020.
The indictment also accuses Wright of tasering another suspect on March 12, 2024, “without legal justification.”
“If convicted, James Cameron Wright faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison,” according to the press release from the United States Department of Justice.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of Blevins goes into more detail about some of the above-mentioned incidents, stating the indicted troopers beat a non-resisting man named Justin Holcomb on March 5, 2020.
On April 2, 2020, Wright abused another non-resisting man named Thomas Davis during a traffic stop, which was covered up by Wright’s superiors.
Then on April 9, 2020, they beat another non-resisting man named Alex Hornback, snatching a phone from his roommate who was recording and deleting the footage.
The lawsuit also mentions an incident from March 12, 2024, where Wright abused another non-resisting man named John Millett III by throwing him to the ground and tasering him repeatedly, not much different from what Wright did to Blevins three months later. Millett also filed a lawsuit against Wright, which remains pending.
This action also involves the continuation of a disturbing pattern by Wright of engaging in the excessive use of force and is the third such incident in the past five years that resulted in a federal civil rights lawsuit.
This pattern of abuse was only allowed to continue because Wright’s superior officers allowed it to continue and even named him Trooper of the Year after knowing he had abused his power and committed perjury on the stand, “leaving Defendant Wright free to continue his pattern and practice of ongoing constitutional violations.”
Wright, who has been suspended from the force, is scheduled to attend trial in September over the federal charges. Watch the body camera video below.
