A Kentucky police officer’s career collapsed fast after private messages surfaced showing he had been circulating racist, AI-generated videos among fellow officers — a discovery that didn’t just end his job, but turned his own excuse into part of the spectacle.
Joshua Yeager, who started working for the Lexington Police Department in 2022, stepped down from his position after a disciplinary review board consisting of high-ranking police officers and two citizens recommended that he be fired from his job, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.
An internal investigation found that the now-former cop sent multiple racially offensive videos that he created using artificial intelligence to another officer.
Disciplinary documents cite the contents of the videos.
One of them depicted George Floyd — whose murder by Minneapolis police in 2020 sparked global protests and unrest — selling fictional medicine in a fictional commercial.
Another showed a “white, uniformed police officer ordering a coffee in a coffee shop. The barista sits the coffee down and the officer says ‘It’s black’ and stands up and shoots the coffee with his firearm.”
Investigators wrote that the videos were “offensive in nature,” and “would be considered unprofessional and inappropriate by any reasonable person.”
In an interview with investigators, Yeager stated he shared the videos only because the AI had rendered lifelike images.
“It was more like, oh crap, look how real it is and look what people are saying,” Yeager said in one interview. “I think I interpret the coffee one a little differently. I don’t, I think that’s more dehumanizing towards police.”
Another clip reportedly showed a white man pouring out water in front of African villagers.
“Again, that was when, like, holy crap, like this is, look how realistic this, like this is becoming and thinking that’s what’s going on,” Yeager reportedly told investigators.
He claimed that he never intended to dehumanize Black people when he created and sent the videos and didn’t “find humor” in them. He said, “…to me, if anything, it’s showing what other people think police do.”
“I, my interpretation of those videos, me personally came from the idea of like more, it’s the shock factor, not the shock value of it. Not that like, I agree with these types of things. It’s more like, oh crap, look at this AI, look how real it is and look what’s going on,” Yeager said in the investigative interview.
Yeager added that he only shared the videos in private chats via social media to one unknown officer, never publicly.
Disciplinary records state that the unknown officer whom Yeager messaged resigned last summer during an internal probe into his actions.
After reviewing the findings from the investigation into Yeager, the disciplinary review board recommended his termination on Nov. 13.
Yeager resigned on Dec. 2.
