Former Northern Kentucky attorney turned gubernatorial candidate Eric Deters faces charges of menacing, harassing communications, and criminal trespassing after allegedly having a run-in with his juvenile nephew on a farm in Independence.
Deters has been embroiled in legal proceedings this year. Most notably, Trump associate Corey Lewandowski and Deters sued each other over breach of contract. He also faces a lawsuit from a former employee over breach of contract.
The criminal complaint filed in Kenton County on Wednesday alleges that Deters’ juvenile nephew called the police because Deters was chasing him in his truck.
Deters’ nephew told police that when he arrived at the farm to hunt, Deters was near the mailboxes on Green Road. The nephew alleges that Deters was staring at him, and the nephew flipped him off. That’s when Eric Deters started to chase his nephew down the paved driveway in his truck through Sugar Ridge Farm. The nephew called his father, who then called the police.
A witness on the property said that a dark pickup truck was following the nephew across the farm property and got within a couple of feet of the truck. Security video footage showed that Deters drove behind his nephew’s truck and drove parallel to his truck across dirt roads that traverse the fields.
“[The nephew] stated that he purposefully drove past security cameras on the property for his own safety as he was being chased,” the police report reads.
Officers later contacted Eric Deters at his residence adjacent to the farm.
“Deters corroborated [the nephew’s] version of events,” the report reads.
“…after he flipped me off, I followed him. The little chickensh** wouldn’t get out of his truck,” Deters stated to police. “… he’s lucky he didn’t get his a** kicked.”
Deters further told police that his nephew stopped his truck at one point, so he stopped and exited his vehicle. The pursuit then started back up again.
Deters said he “knew [the nephew] was calling you guys, so I just f***ing came home.”
Deters told police on the scene to pass a message to his brother Jeremy “to go f**k himself for me, can you communicate that to him?”
The officers declined to do so.
Deters is restrained from contacting the nephew’s father through a protective order. The last thing Deters told police was, “my whole purpose was to scare the sh*t out of [his nephew], and I succeeded. He was like, holy sh*t … I bet he pissed his pants.”
Deters allegedly left harassing voicemails and sent text messages to his sister-in-law as well.
Deters’ brother owns Sugar Ridge Farm, and in April 2020, he told Deters he was not allowed on the farm, according to the complaint.
In a response to the complaint, Deters denied he was told he couldn’t be on the farm or that he committed the crimes.
“First, there [sic] will NEVER be able to be produced ANY evidence I was EVER told I was not allowed at Sugar Ridge, a private/public place,” Eric Deters’ response reads.
He then says he never threatened, touched, or rammed his nephew’s truck.
In Deters’ statement, he alleges that he was in his driveway and walked across the road to the mailbox. A truck passed and turned into the adjacent driveway, which shares several hundred feet with the driveway of Sugar Ridge. Deters was grabbing the mail, and as he looked to his right, he said his nephew flipped him off.
“This punk has revved his engine at us, acted like he was going to drive over us when we have been on walks, flipped my wife off, harassed her at Skyline restaurant in Independence, and been a general annoyance,” according to Deters’ statement.
Deters said in his statement that he didn’t commit any crimes.
“I never rammed him. I never touched his truck. I never touched him. I never threatened him,” Deters’ statement reads.