When Officer William Stewart arrived on the scene of a pro-LGBTQ rally on June 3 in Corbin, Ky., he found a self-identified Ku Klux Klan member menacing rally-goers with a loaded handgun.
“Take your gun off!” Stewart said to 43-year-old KKK member Clayton Segebart, who puts his handgun on the ground.
“He’s got a gun! He’s been trying to f------ shoot someone!” a protester yelled at the officer.
But the dramatic scene, captured in a 15-minute police bodycam video obtained by Raw Story through a Kentucky Open Records Act request, didn't result in any arrests.
Instead, Stewart decided not press charges against Segebart or Kenneth Hutton — a former city employee who arrived on the scene at the same time and also displayed a KKK card — despite protesters showing the officer phone video of the volatile moments immediately preceding the officer’s arrival.
The bodycam video shows LGBTQ activists playing a cell phone recording of Segebart waving a KKK card in a protester’s face. He then spews violent and homophobic language and reaches for a handgun he had strapped to his waist.
The police bodycam video later shows Stewart speaking with James Hensley, the 21-year-old LGBTQ supporter who was the target of Segebart’s hate.
“All right, I’m watching the video,” Stewart told Hensley, before putting the onus of pressing charges on Hensley. “You are more than welcome to come down to the police department and fill out a warrant for him.”
Hensley then pointed out to the officer that Segebart had identified himself as a Ku Klux Klan member.
“He comes over here, says he’s talking about all these other murders of trans people and just trying to scare us, man,” Hensley told Stewart. “He’s Billy Badass, and he’s just looking for a way to kill someone, man. It sucks.”
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Stewart, who the video depicts as de-escalating the situation as he speaks with numerous people on the scene, then explained to Hensley that if he wanted to pursue charges, he could come down to the police station and “swear out a criminal complaint.” If a judge issued a warrant or criminal summons, Stewart said, Segebart and Hensley would “both have to appear in court together.”
“I just got a lot in my life,” Hensley told Stewart.
Hensley told Raw Story that as a result of a car accident in April, he had to change jobs and now relies on rides from friends and family members to get to work. And he has been taking care of his ailing grandfather. Hensley said he decided that ultimately the hassle of going to court to see that justice is done just wasn’t worth it.
Corbin Police Detective Robbie Hodge told Raw Story that Segebart's conduct toward Hensley meets the criteria for a harassment charge. Under Kentucky law, "a person is guilty of harassment when, with intent to intimidate, harass, annoy, or alarm another person, he or she ... makes an offensively coarse utterance, gesture or display, or addresses abusive language to any person present."
Harassment is a misdemeanor, and Hodge said for police to make an arrest on a misdemeanor charge — with only a few exceptions such as domestic violence and driving under the influence — the victim must sign a criminal complaint.
RELATED ARTICLE: KKK members pulled guns on pro-LGBTQ protesters — but Kentucky officers let them go free: police docs
As shown in the police bodycam video, the police separately considered whether to charge Segebart for pulling a firearm, which took place after the altercation with Hensley. As Segebart and Hensley argued, an unidentified man came on the scene and told Segebart to leave. In response, Segebart pulled his gun and waved it in the man’s direction.
The police also opted to not charge Segebart with “wanton endangerment” in relation to his actions toward the unidentified man. Kentucky statutes define “wanton endangerment” as “wantonly” engaging “in conduct which creates a substantial danger of physical injury to another person.” The offense is a Class D felony “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.”
The bodycam video shows Stewart and an unidentified officer conferring. Stewart can be heard telling the other officer that Segebart and another man “come up, basically called them ‘f-----s,’ and then they’re getting in a heated argument.
“He pulls his weapon,” Stewart continued. “He doesn’t raise it at them, but he pulls it.”
“Did he have a reason to pull it?” the other officer asked.
“No,” Stewart responded.
“Well, why did he say he pulled it?” the other officer asked.
The video then shows Stewart walking over to Segebart and asking him. Segebart told the officer that the unidentified man “was approaching to me really fast, and I didn’t know if he was going to swing on me or not.”
Rather than “hit him and actually really escalate it, all I did was pull [the gun] out and step back,” Segebart said.
The unidentified man left the scene, and the police were unable to interview him.
Despite not charging Segebart, Stewart told Hensley: “I get it. You should never pull a weapon unless you absolutely have to. That’s not how we’re trained. That’s our last resource, and that should be his.”
When the police arrived on the scene, the body-cam video shows them seizing firearms from Segebart and Hutton. The police removed bullets from the chambers of the guns.
But within 14 minutes of arriving, they returned the weapons to the men and told them to leave, according to the video. They also told the LGBTQ supporters to leave the park after determining that they did not have a permit.
“I’m gonna give y’all’s firearms back, all right?” Stewart told Segebart and Hutton. “I’m gonna walk ’em up there with you, OK? Just — just leave, OK? They’re leaving, too. I’m making ’em leave, so you guys gotta leave, too. OK?”
