Black police officer fired after being accused of sharing info with BLM protest organizer

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council has fired police officer Jervis Middleton, a black police officer who was accused of sharing information with a Black Lives Matter protest leader.

Lexington Police Chief Lawrence Weathers—who is also black—and an internal police disciplinary board recommended that Middleton get sacked for breaching department policies and sharing information with BLM protest leader Sarah Williams, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Lawyers for Middleton said during a Thursday hearing that the black officer had endured racial discrimination from other officers, and was frustrated that action had not been taken to address his concerns about racism within the department, according to the outlet. Middleton was also reportedly frustrated regarding police killings of black individuals in the U.S.

"Keith Horn, a lawyer for the city, said during opening arguments that Middleton told Williams what to say to some officers during protests in May and June and sent her some staffing information, including that police were looking for officers to work overtime to work the protests," the outlet reported.

While Middleton initially denied supplying information, he later acknowledged having done so after seeing text and other messages from Williams' phone that were procured by authorities via a search warrant, Horn reportedly said.