On a Thursday in March, Covington-based attorney Jamir Davis had called a press conference on behalf of his client, Damien Conner. Their purpose was grim: They had filed a lawsuit against the city of Covington, along with Covington police officer Doug Ullrich, alleging Conner’s rights had been violated during a traffic stop in September.
Now, on that March day, it was time for a press conference that the duo had called to inform the media and the public about the lawsuit.
Davis’ firm sent attendees a portion of Ullrich’s body camera footage before the event, showing part of the encounter, during which Ullrich handcuffed Conner through the window of the car he was driving, cut Conner’s seat belt and arrested him.
The suit was filed in federal court on March 19.
“Rampant violations of excessive use of force and concerns of prejudicial conduct are recurring problems stemming from officers serving with the Covington Police Department, which is deeply affecting the efficiency of the Covington Police Department and threatening the protection of Constitutional Rights for the citizens of Covington, Kentucky,” the opening lines of Conner’s complaint reads.
Fast forward a few days to the Covington City Commission meeting on March 25.
Mayor Ron Washington, who formerly worked as a police officer, cast doubt on the lawsuit’s account of the case, even going so far to as to say Davis and Conner had misled the news media and the public at the press conference.
“The news coverage relied on selectively edited footage provided by Mr. Conner’s attorney, rather than the full body camera footage, which provides important context to the encounter,” Washington said at the meeting. He also argued that the media had been misinformed about the results of the criminal charges Conner had initially faced and that the police had acted lawfully during the traffic stop.
Both the J. Davis Firm and the city later released the full body cam footage. The city posted the full video along with the arrest’s incident report on its website.
“We encourage the community to review all available information before drawing conclusions and to allow the legal process to take its course,” Washington said on March 25. “The city supports its law enforcement officers in their duties to uphold public safety while ensuring that all actions are conducted within the bounds of the law.”
Given this discrepancy, the question arises: Did the police violate Conner’s rights?
What’s the legal basis for both his and the city’s claims, and what does it mean for the police’s relationship with the community?
The arrest, the press conference and the city’s response
Ullrich pulled Conner over on Sept. 23, 2024, after spotting Conner using his phone while driving, according to the incident report.
As reported by LINK nky’s content sharing partner, WCPO, which had a crew at the press conference, body camera footage Davis and his law firm released showed the encounter.
Ullrich stopped Conner for driving while using his phone at around 6:38 p.m., the lawsuit says. The officer requested Conner’s license, registration and insurance, which Conner provided without issue, according to the lawsuit. Ullrich then went back to his cruiser, ran Conner’s information, which returned no prior record or warrants, Davis said, and returned to Conner’s vehicle.
Ullrich can be seen in the video approaching Conner’s vehicle and immediately asking if Conner had a gun. By this point, other officers had arrived on the side of the highway, body camera footage shows.
“Mr. Conner, without reaching around, do you carry a gun, sir?” Ullrich said.
“What?” Conner responded.
“Do you carry a gun?” Ullrich said.
“What? I’m confused,” Conner said.
“Sir, it’s a very simple question, do you have a gun?” Ullrich said.
“Sir, I [inaudible] questions, I’ve got to get to work,” Conner said.
“OK, take your seat belt off,” Ullrich said.
“For what?” Conner said.
“Take your seat belt off,” Ullrich said. “I don’t want to have to rip you out of the car and take you to jail, so take your seat belt off.”
“What are you taking me to jail for?” Conner said.
“I’m telling you I don’t want to, so take your seat belt off,” Ullrich said.
Conner asked why he had to get out of his car, telling officers he didn’t understand why he was being asked to step out.
“I don’t want to get out of my car, stop, this is against my will,” said Conner just before Ullrich announced he was under arrest.
When Conner asked why, Ullrich responded that he was resisting arrest.
“Why am I exiting my car; what are we doing?” Conner said as Ullrich began handcuffing him through the window of the vehicle.
After Conner was in handcuffs, Ullrich and another officer can be seen pulling Conner through the driver’s side window of the car while he verbally protests but does not appear to physically resist. At one point in the video, Conner even instructed the officers on how to properly unlock the car.
Ullrich again told Conner he was under arrest because he refused to get out of his car.
“Why am I getting out of my car for a f—king ticket?” Conner said as the officers continue to pull his upper body out of the car through the window.
Conner then began telling officers they’re hurting him and asks if they can open the car door instead of pulling him through the window.
Conner then asked officers to help him get his seat belt off. Ullrich then said he’s not removing the handcuffs to get him out of the car and told the other officer to cut the seat belt.
As Conner is being walked to a police cruiser, Ullrich again told him he was being arrested because he refused to get out of his car. Conner then again asks why he had to get out of his car for an offense that would have only been a ticket.
“Because your car stinks like weed,” Ullrich said.
Ullrich did not make that allegation at any point earlier during the traffic stop before Conner was in handcuffs.
After Conner has been detained and put into a police cruiser, Ullrich can be seen returning to Conner’s car, where he began to search his belongings. Inside a backpack in the vehicle, Ullrich found a black and silver hand gun.
“Oh, look at that, a gun, just like I thought,” Ullrich said.
According to the lawsuit, Conner is a legally registered gun owner, and the gun was also registered.
The video the J. Davis firm initially sent out is about six minutes long and only shows the part of the encounter where officers remove Conner from the car, which the incident report indicates is registered to a Ryan Romero, and the subsequent search where Ullrich found the gun, a 9 mm Smith and Wesson, in the bag that was sitting in the passenger seat.
Ullrich also found a single pill on the floor during the search; he places the pill in a small evidence bag in the video. The incident report states the pill was a medication called metronidazole, a prescription used for treating various bacterial infections. The fact that the pill was not in a prescription storage container eventually landed Conner a charge of having a controlled substance prescription not in its original container.
The video the J. Davis firm sent after the press conference shows the full encounter. It’s about 30 minutes long. It largely matches the video the city later sent out, with one difference: The city’s file includes footage from Ullrich’s dash cam in addition to the body cam footage. The city’s version also includes textual annotations of the encounter, including statutory and case law citations, the city argues legally enabled Ullrich’s actions.
The beginning parts of the full video show Ullrich leaving his car and approaching Conner on the passenger side. Ullrich asked for Conner’s papers, and a chunk of the early parts of the video shows Conner scrolling through his smart phone looking for his insurance information.
The city contends in its footage that Conner was fumbling with the bag containing the gun early in the video as the officer approached the car, an action that purportedly provoked Ullrich’s suspicions.
While you can see Conner moving around in the video as Ullrich approaches the car, it’s hard to discern from the camera angle if he’s moving the bag or something else. In any case, viewers can clearly see the bag leaning against the center console later in the video. Ullrich also glanced into the back seat several times early in the encounter, seemingly at a backpack.
The later parts of the video, after Conner is put in the back of the cruiser, show Ullrich’s search of the vehicle, including the bag in the back seat, which Ullrich said “stinks like weed.”
The camera footage also recorded Conner speaking with someone over the phone, even as he was in the back of the cruiser. Conner later told LINK nky that he was talking with his cousin.
Ullrich returned to the cruiser after searching the car, where the following exchange occurred:
“What are we doing?” Conner said.
“You gonna go to jail,” Ullrich said.
“What am I going to jail for?” Conner said.
“For obstruction,” Ullrich said.
“Obstruction of what?” Conner asked. “I did nothing to you. I did everything that you asked.”
“What’d you do when I told you to get out of the car?” Ullrich said.
“Why do I even have to get out of my car?” Conner said.
“Because the police gave you a lawful-” Ullrich said.
“I was on my phone,” Conner said. “You was giving me a ticket for my phone.”
Ullrich began to respond but stopped. Conner stated that he was looking on his phone for directions. Conner is from out of town, he said, so he wasn’t familiar with the area. Conner reaffirmed this in his conversation with LINK nky, and court documents list his address in Georgia.
Ullrich then asked the dispatcher for information on the gun and Conner’s criminal history. Conner said he had a license to carry in his wallet. After contacting the dispatcher, Ullrich began to read Conner a Miranda warning.
“Since you’re under arrest, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court. You have the right to have an attorney present during any and all questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney–,” Ullrich stopped. “You know what, never mind. You already said you didn’t answer questions.”
The city’s video cuts off around here before switching to the dash cam footage. The full video the J. Davis firm sent after the press release goes on a little longer and includes back and forth between Conner and Ullrich, in which Conner expressed confusion about how a traffic stop for a cell phone citation could have escalated to an arrest. Ullrich reaffirmed the arrest was due to obstruction and that the command for Conner to leave the vehicle was lawful.
In the end, Conner was charged with a comms device violation for using his phone, the charge for having the pill in the car, obstructing an emergency responder and resisting arrest.
Despite Ullrich’s statements about the smell of marijuana and his suspicions that a tear-off baggy he found during the search of the car may have contained some THC residue, no weed was located in the car. Conner also states several times throughout the video that he can’t use marijuana due to his job working for “the railroad,” which he later informed LINK nky was Norfolk Southern. LINK nky has reached out to Norfolk Southern to corroborate this.
All of the charges were later dismissed due to judicial diversion, which allows someone charged with a crime to have the charges dismissed if they don’t re-offend for a certain period.
The city took issue with early news reports, arguing the media had been misinformed.
“Reports have incorrectly stated that multiple charges against Mr. Conner were dropped,” Washington said at the March 25 commission meeting. “In reality, the case was subject to a diversion agreement, meaning Mr. Conner agreed to certain conditions, such as avoiding future legal violations. If those conditions are met, the charges may later be dismissed. This is a significant distinction that was not accurately represented in the reporting.”
Staff from the Kenton County District Court clerk’s office informed LINK nky about the diversion agreement. If Conner didn’t offend for 60 days after Dec. 5, 2024, the charges were dismissed. Conner upheld the agreement, and the charges were dismissed on Feb. 25. LINK nky did not attend the press conference where the statement that the charges were dropped was allegedly uttered, but Davis corroborated what the clerk’s office told LINK nky in an interview.
Conner still resides in Cincinnati today, and Ullrich is still a member of the Covington PD. The lawsuit is ongoing.
Law, order, searches, suits
The lawsuit argues that Ullrich violated Conner’s rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which protects people against unreasonable search and seizure. The Fourth Amendment is often cited by civil rights attorneys when seeking damages against police officers for using excessive force during searches, and Conner’s complaint alleges Ullrich’s use of force in the arrest was unnecessary.
Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that Ullrich himself has “a long history of profiling African Americans” and that Ullrich (in his position as a trainer), as well as Covington Police Chief Brian Valenti, “allowed ULLRICH (sic) and other officers to act with impunity and have failed to properly train or supervise their officers in accordance with
established [city] policies.”
As such, the firm is seeking what’s called a Monnell claim against the department, which argues that bad behavior on the part of a single officer is reflective of unconstitutional or negligent polices, especially as it relates to training, on the part of the department itself. Usually, a department can’t be held liable for the unconstitutional behavior of one of its officers without proving a Monnell claim.
“The CITY itself seems uninterested in complying with CITY policies and procedures,” the complaint reads.
The Davis firm included Ullrich’s personnel file in the materials it sent to news outlets. Much of the 293-page file is workaday HR paperwork, but records of disciplinary actions and performance reviews offer some insight into Ullrich as an officer.
Many of Ullrich’s performance reviews are positive, although several—from early in his career, at least—indicate that he had a habit of cutting corners on required paperwork in an effort to get back outside on his beat. One performance review from 2018 explicitly warns Ullrich against getting burnt out, in spite of its commendation of his work ethic.
Files attesting to reprimands and suspensions Ullrich has received since he was hired in 2011 appear in the record. He has one use-of-force reprimand for an incident in May 2014, where he tased a fleeing suspect who was not acting aggressively, as well as his “cavalier,” as one of his supervisors put it, response to the reprimands. In one noted response, he said in a group text chat with other officers, “i (sic) violate every policy.”
Most of his reprimands and suspensions, however, have to do either with car accidents he was involved in while on duty, for which he received four reprimands, or improper handling of evidence.
In March of 2016, for instance, Ullrich was suspended for two days after he discovered a metal gun safe during the course of a collision investigation and opened it, believing it contained a hand gun, even though his supervisors had instructed him to log the safe into evidence, wait for a warrant and allow the crime lab techs to assist him in opening it properly. The safe ended up containing a BB gun.
Disciplinary issues seemed to occur less frequently the farther Ullrich went in his career, and his file also contains letters of appreciation from various groups around the community for his work. A memo from 2023 that recommended Ullrich and several other officers for the role of SWAT negotiators specifically compliments what it characterizes as Ullrich’s ability to de-escalate hostile situations.
What about Ullrich’s insistence that his instructions to Conner were lawful?
In its video annotations, the city cites a U.S. Supreme Court case from 1977, Pennsylvania v. Mimms, which ruled that a police officer ordering someone out of their car during a traffic stop to perform a weapons search didn’t violate the Fourth Amendment.
Although it is not mentioned in the video, another landmark case from 1968, Terry v. Ohio, granted officers the right to search someone for weapons if they had reasonable suspicion to believe the person was carrying and was either engaged in or likely to engage in a crime, even in the absence of probable cause.
That case especially set a precedent for later cases that expanded police search powers and arguably served as the beginning of allowing police to legally perform so-called “stop-and-frisk” searches. Such searches are even referred to as “Terry searches” in many legal documents. The case appears as a justification in the opinions for the Mimms case.
Additionally, the smell of marijuana in someone’s car is grounds for probable cause in Kentucky. This precedent comes primarily from a 2006 case, Dunn v. Commonwealth, which granted officers probable cause to search a vehicle, its occupants, and any items in the vehicle if they smelled marijuana.
There is debate among lawyers whether this should change with Kentucky’s recent passage of medical marijuana, and several states, including Ohio, have changed their policies.
The police and the J. Davis Firm
This is not the first time the J. Davis Firm and one of its clients have sued Ullrich and other Covington Police officers.
In 2021, another client of the J. Davis Firm, Anthony Wynn, sued Ullrich along with Officers John Murphy, Danny Elsbernd and former Covington Police Chief Robert Nader for alleged violation of Wynn’s constitutional rights.
“We would like Doug Ullrich and Officer [John] Murphy removed, considering the allegations that have come against them,” Davis said at a press conference in April of last year about the Wynn case.
The lawsuit alleged that the officers violated Wynn’s constitutional rights during the course of arrests in 2020 and 2021.
The officers allegedly applied excessive force during the course of one arrest, “violently slamming him to the ground, applying a choke-hold and proceeding to punch him in the face multiple times,” according to a press release from the firm sent out at the time. “Officer Murphy’s violent acts resulted in Mr. Wynn dislocating his shoulder and suffering significant amounts of pain.”
This lawsuit did not end well for either Wynn or Davis.
The suit, which Wynn filed in federal court, focuses on three arrests, one on Aug. 28, 2020, one on Jan. 1, 2021, and another on Jan. 16, 2021. The incident from August 2020 involved a traffic stop where Wynn alleged he suffered “a torn ligament in his shoulder, hernia in his [groin], and severely injured [wrists] along with other bruises and scrap[e]s on his face,” according to court documents.
Wynn also claimed blood appeared in his urine for weeks after the encounter.
The court threw out the part of the suit for the August incident on statute of limitations grounds. Under Kentucky civil law, a plaintiff has a year from the time of the incident to seek damages for personal injury.
“Wynn asserts that he was unaware of his injuries and who caused them until weeks after the incident due to loss of memory and delayed medical treatment,” a brief* from United States District Judge David Bunning from September 2022 reads.
“However, Wynn’s allegations in the Complaint contradict this assertion. Wynn was allegedly pulled over, searched multiple times and handcuffed well before he was struck and knocked unconscious. When Wynn awoke from being unconscious, he noticed that officers had undressed him and eventually jailed him. Lastly, Wynn alleges he experienced blood in his urine for weeks and complained about his injuries while detained [emphasis his]. The events prior to Wynn being knocked unconscious, along with his subsequent arrest, would alert him to at least some altercation with the police. Therefore, Wynn’s arguments about his lack of knowledge do not prove that the statue of limitations was tolled.”
Bunning granted the city’s motion to dismiss the part of the suit dealing with the August 2020 incident on Sept. 20, 2022.
The incident on Jan. 1, 2021, was due to a domestic dispute, which ended in police arresting Wynn and charging him with disorderly conduct and menacing. Wynn later pleaded guilty to the disorderly conduct charge.
The final incident took place during the course of a traffic stop on Jan. 16, 2021. Murphy had pulled over Wynn for failing to signal and turn on his headlights, according to court documents. “Plaintiff [Anthony Wynn] then identified himself to Officer Murphy as Ronnie Wynn, Plaintiff’s brother.”
Robbie Wynn had outstanding traffic warrants, so Murphy instructed Anthony Wynn out of the car. Officer Elsbernd later arrived as backup.
A struggle ensued that was captured by the car’s female passenger, who live-streamed the fight on Facebook.
“At various points in the struggle, both Officer Murphy and Plaintiff can be seen trying to place their hands around each other’s necks,” court documents read. Murphy eventually applied a blood choke, or as the court documents call it, a “vascular restraint,” to Wynn’s neck, rendering him unconscious. The choke appears in the video, where “Officer Murphy appeared to release Plaintiff from the hold at the timestamp 0:59 as soon as he was turned over to face the ground.”
Murphy walked away from the altercation with a cut on his head, which is discernible in Elsbernd’s body cam footage. Wynn was ultimately charged with alcohol intoxication, assault and resisting arrest.
A subsequent internal affairs investigation found Murphy suffered a concussion during the course of the struggle, in addition to the cut, missing work as a result. He was later prescribed a mild painkiller for the headaches.
“Murphy testified at the hearing he was concerned about the number of people surrounding the scene, as well as Plaintiff’s size, and effectuated the neck restraint to subdue him enough to be handcuffed,” according to court documents. “It was later determined that his taser holster was damaged, which prevented him from deploying it… The Internal Affairs Division concluded that given the circumstances of Murphy’s head injury, Plaintiff’s continued resistance, and the gathering crowd of people approaching, Officer Murphy’s use of force was justified.”
Subsequent discovery and evidence examination revealed that, despite being named in Wynn’s complaint, “Defendants Ullrich, Murphy and Elsbernd were not present at the January 1, 2021 arrest.” Ullrich was also not present during the struggle on Jan. 16, 2021, having arrived only after Wynn had already been detained.
Camera footage from the night shows Wynn asking Ullrich a question, to which Ullrich responds, “Man, I wasn’t here; I don’t have any idea what’s going on.”
“Plaintiff told him that he got attacked and Officer Ullrich replied, ‘Ah s***, that sucks,'” according to court documents. “This is the extent of the interaction between Officer Ullrich and Plaintiff at the scene of the arrest.”
Depositions from Wynn himself didn’t help his case.
“In addition to suing officers that were not present, Plaintiff does not even detail what constitutional rights were violated at his January 1, 2021 arrest,” according to the judge’s opinion. “Defendants point out that during Plaintiff’s deposition, he could not recall anything that the officers did that he believed to be a violation of his rights. Plaintiff argues here that it does not matter, and Plaintiff ‘should not be required to identify what specific actions or inactions deprived [Plaintiff] of his constitutional rights, as [Plaintiff] is not fully aware of the extent of his constitutional rights.’ While Plaintiff himself may not be fully apprised of his constitutional rights, his counsel should either articulate for the Court how officers that were not present at the scene could have violated Plaintiff’s constitutional rights or concede the claim.”
The judge goes on to characterize the suit’s claims that the department engaged in profiling of African-Americans as “incendiary,” “bombastic,” and “not grounded in reality,” as Davis failed to connect any specific facts to the claims. Later court documents also suggest that, in spite of requesting multiple extensions to discovery during the case, “Davis failed to conduct any discovery on that point.”
Bunning tossed the case on Aug. 16, 2024. The city then filed a motion for Wynn to pay the city’s legal fees for the case. Courts mandating plaintiffs to pay for defendants’ legal fees is rare, as the standard for such an ask is higher for defendants. The city also sought sanctions against Davis for frivolous lawsuits.
On April 8 of this year, the court granted part of the city’s request for attorney’s fees and as well as the sanctions.
“Plaintiff presented no evidence whatsoever to support his claim that Defendants Murphy and Elsbernd discriminated against Plaintiff on the basis of his race or ethnicity,” Bunning’s order reads. “The entirety of the analysis or explanation given was, seemingly, that Plaintiff is a recognizable African American and Defendants Murphy and Elsbernd are white. Moreover, when put in a position to defend such claims in summary judgment, Mr. Davis, on behalf of his client, explicitly refused to present to this Court any explanation, analysis or evidence.”
When asked about the sanctions, Davis said, “I have never been sanctioned in my career before or even disciplined until this case. It’s ridiculous that I would get sanctioned for this.”
The police and the community
When LINK nky interviewed Davis for the first time in early April—before the court had sanctioned him—he described the purported effect of the police’s actions (whether legal or not) on the communities in which they work.
“On a day-to-day [basis], there’s a lot of people dealing with a lot of stress, and there’s a lot of people dealing with a lot of anxiety,” Davis said.
At the time, the firm was reviewing some body cam footage of Ullrich performing another traffic stop on March 14, 2025, in which Ullrich pulls over someone for having tinted windows. Ullrich then searched the person’s car and at one point even asks if he’s got any “marijuana still in your car?”
The man in the video said he didn’t before Ullrich asks him about some prior citations for possession. LINK nky was not able to corroborate the prior citations, however, Ullrich did not find any drugs in the course of that particular search.
Davis maintains that Ullrich uses the smell of marijuana as a pretext for erroneous searches.
“Another hard-working individual that doesn’t smoke weed and is driving with his pregnant girlfriend in the passenger seat,” Davis said of the video. “They’re not smoking weed. They’re trying to leave his grandmother’s funeral. We got another guy that’s going to work. That’s the issue is that you’re making a mountain out of a molehill on people that are everyday citizens.”
In short, even if it’s legal, is it necessary? And what effect do frequent searches have on a community and its relationship with the police?
Conner, when he spoke with LINK nky, expressed the sense of fearfulness he feels when moving around the Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati areas since his arrest.
“I just don’t trust people out here now,” Conner said, adding that he rarely leaves his residence these days, other than to go to work.
“It’s our objective to make sure that all citizens are treated fairly and equally,” Davis said. “That’s the goal, in that the policies are followed regardless of what you look like, regardless of what your background is. We just want to make sure that we’re treated fairly and equally. That’s what we’re after, and it doesn’t seem to be that way at times.”
When asked about the sanctions, Davis said he planned to appeal them. He also pointed out that Ullrich has been named in three other civil rights cases, besides the Wynn and Conner cases, in federal court. Court records corroborate this. Davis also points to the fact that the court did not allow the ACLU to file an amicus curiae, which would allow an outside lawyer to offer expertise or insight on the case.
“When you’re going up against a machine and you’re fighting for justice, people will come after you,” Davis said in a subsequent interview after he’d been sanctioned.
When asked how long Conner planned to stay in the area, Conner replied, “I’m trying to get out as fast as I can.”
“We’re going to fight it to the end,” Davis said. “I’m going to use every resource that I have to clear my name of any wrongdoing.”
*Some of the text from the court documents contain citations of case law and references to other legal documents in the case that unnecessarily crowded out the words of the parties involved. We have removed references to save space, but the parties’ words themselves have remained unchanged. –LINK nky editorial
Felicia Jordan and Sam Harasimowicz of WCPO contributed reporting to this story.