$375,000 Settlement After Judge Found Louisville Police Unlawfully Detained and Searched Teen
Won by Sam Aguiar Injury Lawyers.
Louisville agreed to pay $375,000 to resolve a federal civil rights lawsuit after a judge found that LMPD Detective Kevin Crawford unlawfully detained and searched 18-year-old Tae-Ahn Lea during a 2018 traffic stop that was captured on video and spread widely online.
What happened
On August 9, 2018, Tae-Ahn Lea was 18 years old and driving in Louisville when LMPD Detective Kevin Crawford and Officer Gabriel Hellard pulled him over for an alleged wide turn. After Lea provided his license and insurance, Crawford removed him from the car against his objections, handcuffed him, and called in a K-9 unit to search the vehicle. Officers found no contraband. The traffic citation was later dismissed in court.
The stop was recorded on video and drew public attention as an example of aggressive policing directed at a young Black man with no apparent legal basis. Lea, represented by Sam Aguiar, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Crawford and Louisville Metro Government.
In September 2022, U.S. District Court Judge Greg Stivers granted summary judgment in Lea's favor on the Fourth Amendment claim. The judge found that Crawford had no legally sufficient reason to suspect Lea of criminal activity and that "nervousness alone is not a sufficient basis on which to articulate reasonable suspicion." The court also rejected the government's argument that a small six-ounce souvenir bat found in the car justified the pat-down, writing that the object did not "objectively support a reasonable belief that Lea was armed."
Crawford resigned from LMPD in 2019 and joined a police department in Jeffersonville, Indiana before the liability ruling came down. The Louisville Metro Police Department's 9th Mobile Division, the unit Crawford operated in, was disbanded in late 2019.
With liability already established by the court, the parties negotiated a resolution on damages. Louisville Metro Government agreed in May 2023 to pay Lea $375,000 to settle the case.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.WDRB News: City pays $375,000 to Black Louisville teen handcuffed during viral traffic stop (2023)(original offline)
- 2.Louisville Public Media: Judge rules LMPD officer violated Louisville teen's civil rights in traffic stop (Sept. 16, 2022)·Archived copy
- 3.WHAS11: Settlement reached in traffic stop lawsuit where former LMPD officer violated teen's rights (2023)·Archived copy
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