Newspaper owner/editor accused in pepper spray attack

A criminal complaint has been filed with the county attorney in Breathitt County

JACKSON, Ky. (WTVQ) – The owner and editor of a small town newspaper in Eastern Kentucky has been accused of attacking a family with pepper spray during an argument on the streets of Jackson.

Jeffrey Turner says a heated political debate between him and the owner and editor of the local newspaper, The Breathitt Advocate, escalated from online messaging to personal text messages.  From there, the disagreement over articles pertaining to political figures and the people in Jackson led to a public disagreement in the street ending in an alleged pepper spray attack.

Turner admits he’s been vocal about local stories published and posted about his city in the newspaper and that often he and the paper’s owner and editor, Bobby Thorpe, don’t see eye to eye; however, Turner believes it has deteriorated into a volatile situation.

“Several times he’s messaged me privately.  When I asked him to stop, he continued four more messages.  I asked him to stop again and it was harassment and then he continued until I blocked his account,” explains Turner.

On Sunday, the Turners’ say they were out to lunch at a restaurant in town next to the newspaper’s office.  Turner says the business looked empty with a closed sign on the door.

“No one was in the office when we pulled up, I didn’t think that there would be any kind of an incident,” explains Turner.

According to Turner ,  the family was getting ready to drive home when Bobby Thorpe allegedly slammed the door of his business, startling Turner’s wife as she was buckling their child in the car. From there, Turner says Thorpe’s wife got involved.

“Kim works there with him. She was the one that ran to the door and started a verbal altercation with myself as I was walking down the steps from the sidewalk,” says Turner.

Turner’s wife’s recorded the confrontation on a cell phone.  The video shows Turner and Thorpe talking, sometimes with raised voices.  Later in the video, Thorpe is seen throwing a liquid toward Turner and his wife that Turner says was pepper spray.

“I mean I can have a conversation with this gentleman, but when you start spraying pepper spray, which can be drifted by the wind and my child can be hit, yea, that’s really frightening,” says Turner.

Turner says the police got involved but officers told him the incident was a misdemeanor offense that was not in their presence.

“Instead the police told me to file charges at the county attorney’s office.  That is what I did at 8 o’clock on Monday morning,” adds Turner.

On March 25, 2022, Turner also filed harassment charges against Bobby Thorpe because of the social media back and forth.  ABC 36 News reached out to Thorpe for his side of the story. After talking to his lawyer he issued this statement.

“We deny any and all allegations made. My wife and I have been the victims of harassment. We are confident we will be vindicated in court.”

No court date has been set yet.