City Authorizes Investigation Into Complaint Against Chief Hurt
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Robert Moore
Herald Staff
[email protected]
The Harrodsburg City Commission had authorized an investigation into a citizen’s complaint against Harrodsburg Police Chief Tim Hurt.
At a special-called meeting on Tuesday, May 7, the city commission voted unanimously to authorize the investigation. At the last regular meeting, City Attorney Norrie Currens announced the city has taken steps towards holding a public hearing on a complaint filed by Jennifer Kazimer against Hurt.
Kazimer—who, with her husband, owns the Vault Ciders, Suds and Spirits on South Main Street—accused the police chief of violating the HPD code of ethics. Kazimer, who also served a partial term on the city commission and ran for election as the mayor, complained about Hurt’s actions during last year’s Oktoberfest as well as the handling of the bodycam footage from a visit Hurt made to the Vault.
Currens announced that the city had retained attorney Charley Cole through the Kentucky League of Cities to handle the hearing that’s required under state law and said the city is working to set up a date for the hearing.
Hurt, citing the ethics code, has declined making a comment to the Harrodsburg Herald on the complaint. According to the ethics code, “no public statements shall be made concerning the alleged violations by person or persons of the employing agency or the officer so charged until final disposition of the charges.”
After the special-called meeting on Tuesday, Norrie Currens said, “We requested several agencies, one of which has agreed to conduct an investigation as required by state statute.”
The Kazimers are lucky the ABC only fined the Vault and not rescind their license. The body cam footage was available through a Freedom Of Information request and reluctantly given. There were two other videos, taken by citizens, of their numerous violations and posted on Social Media and made available to the ABC.
The bottom line is Kazimer is looking for someone to blame for her negligence. She could have paid someone minimum wage to stop people from leaving with drinks and she didn’t. If she hadn’t violated the law, Chief Hurt and the ABC would never have had to step in.