Bodycam video shows arrest that allegedly injured Lexington homeless woman
A woman who’s suing the Lexington Police Department over officers allegedly breaking her leg was told by an officer that he would “throw her out on the sidewalk” to get her out of a hospital, according to body camera video from the incident obtained by the Herald-Leader.
Sixty-two-year-old Linda Trapp, a homeless woman who’s suing LPD, the city, officers involved and an emergency room doctor, alleges she was injured by officers who arrested her after she was taken to the emergency room at Saint Joseph East via ambulance on March 10, 2022, according to her lawsuit. She’d suffered a head injury from a fall when she was taken to the hospital, the lawsuit says.
She alleges that after being hospitalized, she was the victim of assault and wrongful arrest, among other offenses. Body camera footage from an officer who responded to the hospital shows how the incident unfolded, from the time Trapp was in a hospital bed to the time she was forcibly detained by officers outside the hospital.
A hospital security guard stated she was brought in for intoxication.
“She was being treated for such and her behavior became from compliant to more erratic,” a hospital security guard said in body camera footage. “She was starting to get loud to more belligerent. Medical staff deemed her qualified for discharge.”
Police were called after Trapp refused to leave. According to body camera video and her lawsuit, Trapp told hospital staff she needed to be tested for COVID-19 before she could return to the Catholic Action Center, where she was staying. Hospital staff wouldn’t give her a test.
An officer, identified as Myles Foster in court documents, can be seen entering the hospital room and immediately telling Trapp, “it’s time for you to leave.”
‘I’ll drag you out’
“I am not taking you to jail. You need to leave,” Foster said. “I will just drag you out and throw you on the sidewalk. You just want somewhere to sleep tonight and that ain’t going to happen. … I’ll drag you out. ... You want to call my bluff go ahead.”
According to body camera footage provided to the Herald-Leader, an emergency room employee tells Trapp “she doesn’t need a COVID test to stay on the streets.” The hospital worker says in the video the hospital couldn’t give her an instant COVID test, and if she wanted one she would need to go to another hospital.
Foster then said he would take Trapp to another hospital for the test if she would just leave the Saint Joseph facility. Trapp still argued with staff and officers about the test and whether she brought her cane.
In the body camera video, an emergency room employee told Trapp she could have her arrested for previously trying to hit her and other nurses with the cane.
“I would leave while you are ahead, because we could press charges against you and that is a felony so you take your choice,” the staff member said.
Following the March 10 incident, Trapp was charged with resisting arrest and second-degree criminal trespassing. She entered an “Alford plea” to the trespassing charge. In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt, but pleads guilty with the understanding that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them at trial.
Court records indicate Trapp has been charged with criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct after incidents at University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital on multiple occasions.
Trapp can be seen in the footage verbally arguing with hospital staff and the police officers. When they are out in the hallway, Trapp calls the officer a liar before the officer grabs her and she ultimately winds up on the ground.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Foster can be heard saying. “I am trying to give you a ride.”
Once she is up off the ground, officers take her outside of the hospital’s bay doors, where she can be seen walking away from the hospital and still talking to officers.
The same emergency room employee appears in the video shooing Trapp, telling her to “go far” towards Harrodsburg Road. Trapp yells back at the staff and officers saying she wants her cane, which she insisted she brought with her in the ambulance.
Staff and officers tell her she did not bring a cane to the hospital and to “go find a tree branch” to use instead.
“Go find ya a tree branch or something,” Foster can be heard saying. “There’s some good trees over there downtown.”
The emergency room employee echoes the statement, telling Trapp to “go get ya a tree branch.”
Trapp calls the officer a liar again, and then the officer can be seen quickly approaching Trapp.
“Oh no, you are not going to hurt me!” Trapp exclaimed on the body camera video. Foster didn’t tell Trapp she was under arrest as he approached her.
Body camera footage shows officers twisting Trapp’s arm and taking her face-down into the ground. She immediately complains that officers broke her knee. They then place her in handcuffs while she is on the ground.
“Because I said I wanted my cane, you broke my knee,” Trapp exclaims. “You broke my kneecaps.”
“I don’t mess around Linda, or whatever your name is. Next time you see me, you better not act like this,” Foster said on the video. “I don’t mess around, you understand? You shouldn’t have resisted.”
Trapp denied having resisted arrest.
“When you pull away from an officer when they say ‘you are under arrest,’ you are resisting,” he said.
After complaining of pain, Trapp is taken inside the hospital bay doors again. An emergency room employee can be seen on the body camera video treating a scratch on Trapp’s face. She continues to tell hospital staff her knee is hurt and asks for treatment.
“Lord, Jesus, shut up,” one employee yells at her, telling her to sit back in the wheelchair.
Trapp was taken to the Fayette County Detention Center and an X-ray was done, which showed she had “acute proximal tibia/fibula fractures with malalignment,” according to court documents. She went to UK Hospital, where she had multiple surgeries to treat her injuries, according to her lawsuit.
In her lawsuit, Trapp alleges she was the victim of wrongful arrest, emotional injury, severe bodily injuries and delayed medical treatment.
‘It is heartbreaking’
Ginny Ramsey, director of the Catholic Action Center, said the whole incident could have been avoided had the nursing staff offered her a COVID test, or if the officer had taken her to get one as he said he would. Ramsey provided the body camera video of the incident to the Herald-Leader after receiving it from Trapp’s attorney.
“(The officer) could have transported her to get the test, and then taken her to the center,” Ramsey said. “He could’ve done that instead. But this was a group thing. They all were negative towards Linda. They were not trying to find a solution, they were trying to get rid of her.
“The video, it is chilling. It is heartbreaking.”
Trapp, who is confined to a wheelchair and still living at the Catholic Action Center, told the Herald-Leader it was “disappointing” to be treated that way.
She said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, and has had several surgeries on her knee as a result of the injuries she suffered during her arrest.
“I don’t know why they categorized me the way they did,” she said. “My language towards them was horrible, but I only started to speak that way once I felt threatened.”
Trapp said she received COVID tests from Saint Joseph in the past and they had records that showed she lived at the center.
Her attorney, Erik S. Young, said the body camera footage speaks for itself, but said the most disturbing part about Trapp’s treatment was the lack of care or concern that she was injured after her arrest.
“The mocking from the nurses and officers — the insensitivity was disturbing and disappointing,” Young said. “We expect better. ... What we would like is for everyone to be treated fairly. I don’t think this was humane treatment. It was out of line, excessive and the mocking insensitivity was uncalled for.”
Young added he doesn’t believe this one incident was reflective of all officers or the police department.
“We want to thank our police department for doing a great job in general,” he said. “We have a great police department and this by no means reflects on all officers. We are not trying to throw them under the bus, but this one action was inappropriate and we want to take care of someone who had a life changing experience based on the injuries she received that night.”
Lexington police declined to comment on the incident. In a reply to the lawsuit, Foster said he “denies any and all liability whatsoever,” according to court documents. He said Trapp’s injuries were not caused by “excessive or unreasonable force.” He said he gave her multiple warnings to know why she was being arrested.
Neither Saint Joseph Health nor any of the emergency room nurses were named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Mary Branham, a spokesperson for Saint Joseph Health, said in a statement that she couldn’t discuss the specifics of patient care out of respect for privacy laws. She said the safety and well-being of patients and staff are the facility’s top priority.
“Our values of compassion, inclusion, integrity, excellence and collaboration guide us as we care for our patients,” the statement said. “We recognize each person as an individual worthy of humankindness. We are also concerned about the growing prevalence of violence against nurses and other health care workers, and encourage our caregivers to seek support if they feel threatened.
“We strive to maintain a balance between humankindness and keeping our patients and caregivers safe and have a process for patient feedback.”
Branham did not comment on the hospital’s COVID testing procedures or answer any additional questions about the incident.
Reporter Karla Ward contributed to this story.
