LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – The Lexington Police Department has recently faced two separate line-of-duty incidents that left officers hurt.
Last month, Officer Kevin Van Wert was seriously injured after a traffic stop turned violent. He lost his arm in the incident.
On Sunday, an officer’s cruiser was hit by an impaired driver, sending the officer and the person they were taking to jail to the hospital.
“It is a reminder of the inherent dangers of this line of work, of being a police officer,” Sgt. Bige Towery said.
Mental health impact
Towery said when incidents like these happen, people automatically think of the physical injuries and not the mental wounds that may take longer to heal.
“Officers, when they encounter something like that, and we’ll take this recent incident with Officer Van Wert, there are officers that their entire careers are impacted because of that because they will never lose those images or lose those memories of what happened that night, but we can do everything we possibly can as an agency to help them,” Towery said.
Towery said to fully invest in the mental health of its officers, the department brought on a part-time behavioral health and wellness coordinator in 2023 that later became a full-time position. The resource is available to employees, their immediate family and retirees.
“We as an agency realize we have to look out for our people. Our officers, all of our personnel, our sworn-in and not sworn-in personnel, and provide those services to make sure they are okay because they have to be okay in order to make sure the people in Lexington are okay,” Towery said.
Towery said the line-of-duty incidents have not changed the way the department operates because officers are highly trained. He said there are still some situations no one can prepare for.
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