Jeffersontown city attorney Schuyler Olt ignited a firestorm of controversy Jan. 23 when he started an online fight with Chris Thieneman over the treatment of police in the media.
The post that started the brouhaha by Thieneman was simply a screen shot of a story by Joe Gerth in the Courier-Journal headlined, “Police must root out racist officers.” It concerned Prospect police officer Todd Shaw’s racist remarks that led to his firing.
Olt, who claims on his Facebook page to be a minister at Carlisle Presbyterian Church, responded first with a comment claiming that Shaw’s behavior was “horrible” but adding that the job is stressful. The two traded comments until Olt ended that part of the discussion with “You, quite frankly, kinda suck.”
In a private message Olt sent to Thieneman, and provided by him to LouisvilleKY.com, Olt wrote the following.
Jeffersontown does not have a policy in place regarding social media use by employees. Attempts to reach Mayor Bill Dieruf on his cell phone on Wednesday night were unsuccessful.
The most damaging comment from Olt came later. Thieneman took a screen shot of the damaging post, which Olt has since deleted. It amounts to “terroristic threatening” as defined by Kentucky law: KRS 508.080(1)(a) covers the most commonly encountered form of terroristic threatening and requires (1) a threat to commit any crime, which is (2) likely to result in death, serious physical injury, or substantial property damage to another person. “Crime” means any misdemeanor or felony4
Here is that comment:
On Wednesday, Olt wrote a public apology for his comments.
Dear Friends, last night I made an extrememly unfortunate comment to Chris Thieneman, and I have no idea where that came from. I want to apologize to Chris and to all of you for my words, which are completely out of my nature. I have a sharp tongue, and I very much appreciate the opportunities I have had to work alongside many good and dedicated police officers in my career. But I’m neither one to make threats, nor am I a violent person. My anger got the best of me, and I am deeply, deeply sorry.
Thieneman, however, reacted with a Facebook LIVE video, in which he called for Olt’s resignation and expressed concern that Olt might use his influence with police to harass him.
Thieneman said on Wednesday that he plans to hold a press conference at the Hall of Justice Thursday at 10 a.m.
