Indicted constables sued for false arrest, assault, rights violations

Michael Wallace

PULASKI COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – Two indicted Pulaski County constables have been sued for false arrest, civil rights violations and other claims.

In a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, Lester Turner Jr., of Ferguson, Ky., alleges District 4 Constable Gary Baldock and District 5 Constable Michael ‘Wally’ Wallace falsely arrested him on heroin and meth trafficking charges and ransacked his home on Shooppman Lane without a warrant on Feb. 2, 2020.

He alleges the violations were made worse because he had just undergone neck surgery and was in pain, but the two constables, who were accompanied by two unnamed people, ignored his claims of innocence and his requests for pain assistance.

His arrest caused his doctor to drop him as a patient and caused problems with his medication, Turner alleges in his lawsuit.

After putting up his sister’s house to post bond and hiring an attorney, the charges against Turner were dismissed on March 11, 2020, the lawsuit states.

Turner seeks a jury trial and asks compensatory and punitive damages.

Badock, who has been in office since November 2018, and Wallace, whose been in office 15 years, were indicted on Feb. 27 on federal civil rights violations charges for what federal prosecutors say was a long-running pattern of intimidation, threats and false arrests as well as doctoring arrest reports to take drugs and cash.

They were arrested March 6, Wallace without incident, but Baldock after a shoot out with FBI agents at his Somerset home that left him and an agent injured. Baldock as been charged with attempted murder of a federal officer as well.

In June, both also were indicted on federal drug trafficking charges.

Their trials are set for Nov. 16 and Dec. 7 in U.S. District Court in London.