{"id":574370,"date":"2021-06-25T21:35:47","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T01:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=574370"},"modified":"2021-06-25T21:35:52","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T01:35:52","slug":"kentucky-cop-placed-on-leave-for-praying-in-front-of-abortion-clinic-will-return-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kentucky-cop-placed-on-leave-for-praying-in-front-of-abortion-clinic-will-return-to-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Cop Placed On Leave For Praying In Front Of Abortion Clinic Will Return To Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fkentucky-cop-placed-on-leave-for-praying-in-front-of-abortion-clinic-will-return-to-work%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=574370&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232764038.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>A Kentucky police officer will return to work after he was placed on administrative leave for four months over a morning he spent praying outside a Louisville abortion clinic in February.<\/p>\n<p>In the early hours of Saturday, February 20, the Louisville Metro Police Department officer, whose name has not been made public, drove to the EMW Women\u2019s Surgical Center and joined his father in praying the rosary outside the clinic. The clinic was not performing abortions that day, according to the officer\u2019s lawyer.<\/p>\n<p>A picture of the officer showing him carrying his firearm near an LMPD cruiser was <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jecoreyarthur\/status\/1363111370514915330\">posted<\/a> on a Twitter account run by volunteer escorts at the clinic. He was off-duty but wearing his uniform with a coat over it, his attorney said. In March, the abortion clinic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wdrb.com\/news\/surveillance-video-released-by-louisville-abortion-clinic-shows-lmpd-officer-marching-in-protest\/article_3d8ade82-7e16-11eb-83f8-db0a258683d6.html\">released<\/a> surveillance footage showing the officer pulling up in his cruiser just before 6 a.m., getting out and putting on a jacket, and remaining with another person outside the clinic for about 45 minutes, at one point holding a sign reading, \u201cpray to end abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after he started his regular patrol duty that morning, the officer was ordered to return to his division\u2019s office and was placed on administrative leave with pay, meaning he was prohibited from making arrests, working cases, or working overtime hours. During the months he was on administrative leave, the officer lost a substantial amount of pay, which he relies on to support his wife and four young children.<\/p>\n<p>LMPD sent the officer notices of potential violations of LMPD\u2019s Standard Operating Procedures, as well as a Kentucky law.<\/p>\n<p>The Thomas More Society, which represents the officer, <a href=\"https:\/\/thomasmoresociety.org\/kentucky-police-officer-returns-to-work-after-being-suspended-for-praying\/\">said<\/a> the law group sent the LMPD a \u201ccomplete legal analysis\u201d of the allegations and requested that the matter be resolved quickly and that the officer be allowed to return to work.<\/p>\n<p>The officer\u2019s attorneys also said that they discovered through an open-records request to LMPD that the department did not take any disciplinary action against other officers who were on-duty and uniformed officers when they marched with Black Lives Matter protestors and in LGBT parades.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have no grounds at all to even discipline him,\u201d Matt Heffron, senior counsel at the Thomas More Society, told The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been four months now, and the police department has just been letting him twist on the vine,\u201d Heffron said.<\/p>\n<p>The attorney criticized the LMPD for \u201cletting the procedure drag on and on as a form of implicit punishment,\u201d and suggested the department could be \u201cpolitically motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have implicitly punished him for praying,\u201d Heffron said. \u201cWhy would you do that to a loyal officer who\u2019s never had any discipline problems, [and] gotten several commendations?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The LMPD did not respond to a request for comment on why the investigation took four months to complete.<\/p>\n<p>The abortion clinic said in a statement that \u201cthe officer engaged in political activity while in uniform and carrying his service weapon on a main thoroughfare in downtown Louisville. This conduct undermines public trust and confidence in LMPD and intimidates patients and care providers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During a March 2 meeting of the Louisville Metro Council\u2019s Oversight and Audit Committee, LMPD Chief Erika Shields confirmed that an internal investigation had been opened into the officer\u2019s conduct, but suggested that the policies pertaining to this type of incident are not clear enough.<\/p>\n<p>One council member told Shields during the meeting that the incident \u201cmakes this particular community see LMPD as an enemy, quite frankly\u201d and asked whether Shields would be willing to appoint an officer as a \u201cliaison\u201d to the clinic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven the fact that we\u2019re dealing with these allegations is a huge breach of trust,\u201d Councilwoman Cassie Chambers Armstrong said.<\/p>\n<p>Another council member wondered whether officers\u2019 \u201cpolitical beliefs come into play as far as them being able to carry out and enforce laws on that public sidewalk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that the officer was protesting. We know that there was some sort of bias at play here. And we also know that people have been harassed at this clinic,\u201d Councilman Jecorey Arthur said.<\/p>\n<p>Shields responded that, \u201cFor some of you it\u2019s viewed as bias, and for others it\u2019s viewed as prayer. And so that\u2019s where as an employer, it\u2019s not black and white. And the policies have to be written in such a manner so that the subjectivity is taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, she said, \u201cIt is imperative that our officers do not immerse themselves in any action that can be deemed political because we\u2019ve lost all credibility at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Councilwoman Paula McCraney said she had visited the clinic when there were protesters present and that some were harassing people and \u201cmaking people feel less than a human.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sick and tired of it,\u201d McCraney said, adding that she helped a woman who was there for an abortion. \u201cIt is humanity that we are referring to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chairman Brent Ackerson told the police chief that he hoped the investigation would not \u201cdrag on forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no reason that this file should take any time at all,\u201d Shields said. \u201cI\u2019ll give it a couple of months.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shields is the fourth police chief to lead the LMPD since the death of Breonna Taylor in March of last year, which prompted the city to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/grand-jury-decision-breonna-taylor-case-fuels-unrest-louisville-streets-n1240846\">devolve<\/a> into riots. She previously resigned as Atlanta\u2019s police chief two days after a police officer fatally shot Rayshard Brooks, after which riots in Atlanta erupted.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, the Louisville city council <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courier-journal.com\/story\/news\/politics\/metro-government\/2021\/05\/20\/louisville-metro-council-approves-buffer-zone-abortion-clinic\/4887228001\/\">approved<\/a> legislation to allow abortion clinics to enforce a 10-foot buffer zone outside the entrance as a foil to pro-life protesters attempting to approach a person entering or leaving the clinic.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Kentucky police officer will return to work after he was placed on administrative leave for four months over a morning he spent praying outside a Louisville abortion clinic in &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2281401,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232764038.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Kentucky Cop Placed On Leave For Praying In Front Of Abortion Clinic Will Return To Work","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-574370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1232764038.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Kentucky Cop Placed On Leave For Praying In Front Of Abortion Clinic Will Return To Work","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2281401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}