Kentucky State Trooper James Wright Excessive & Unjustified Force - Also Trooper Of The Year

Louisville, Kentucky — A Kentucky construction worker is suing a state trooper who allegedly tased, maced, and arrested him during a 2024 traffic stop that began over a seatbelt violation. Dawson Blevins, a passenger in the vehicle, claims the situation escalated rapidly when Trooper James Cameron Wright insisted he exit the car. Blevins says he attempted to record the encounter on his phone, prompting Wright to declare him under arrest and forcibly throw him to the ground. Despite pleading that he couldn’t move his arms due to pain, Blevins was tased repeatedly and eventually sprayed with mace while lying prone. Attorneys say he suffered two spinal fractures during the arrest and was jailed for months before all charges were dismissed earlier this year.

The lawsuit against Wright comes just months after his federal indictment for multiple unrelated excessive force cases spanning four years. Body camera footage from Blevins’ arrest, now public, shows Wright deploying his taser while giving commands Blevins physically could not follow, including ordering him to put his hands behind his back while being shocked and immobilized. The lawsuit also accuses Wright of fabricating details in his arrest report to justify the use of force. Wright was indicted earlier in 2025 by a federal grand jury in Louisville for beating and tasing multiple people from 2020 to 2024. Despite previous allegations of misconduct, Wright was once honored as Trooper of the Year in 2021. He remains suspended as both the federal case and Blevins’ lawsuit move forward.