A few months after two employees of a summer program for troubled young men blow the whistle on alleged abuse, a new complaint against Louisville Metro Police Department was filed by a teenager and his mother.
According to LMPD the mission of the Gentleman's Academy is assisting young men to be more responsible by teaching skills that will empower them, but the complaint states the program wasn't as advertised.
"Somebody needs to comment on this, somebody needs to be held accountable for it and if the only way we could do it is take them to court than that's what we are here to do," said Thomas Clay, attorney.
In a more than 10 page complaint, Clay filed suit against Louisville Metro Police Deputy Chief Yvette Gentry and two other officers on behalf of a 14 year old boy, his mother, and her friend.
The teen was enrolled in the summer of 2014 Gentleman's Academy. The program is sponsored by LMPD and U of L. Clay says that six week program has affected him to this day.
"He is scared to death to the point where he is sleeping under his bed and in his closet and one of these officers is assigned to the school where he is enrolled currently and he is terrified of him," said Clay.
The complaint alleges Officer Clayton Reeves grabbed the teen by the neck and woke him at 3 in the morning to do pushups for hours and refused the boy water. Officer Johnathan Harden is also named in the complaint.
"They were exercised to an extent that I think was highly inappropriate and there was never supposed to be any kind of boot camp atmosphere in this academy," said Clay.
Erica Buckner and Alexis Keen worked at the Gentleman's Academy while they were students at UofL. They said they were punished after they tried to expose the alleged abuse earlier this year in a separate lawsuit against LMPD and UofL.
"This is about power and control and feeding that and having that power and control over someone who is weaker than you and doesn't have a voice," said Buckner.
LMPD says they are unable to comment due to pending litigation.
Child Protective Services was called in to investigate, but at this time their findings are still unclear.