Lexington NAACP continues to call on police response leading up to children’s murders

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - The NAACP is calling on Lexington police to release more details about the mental health of Nikki James, who is accused of stabbing and killing her two children the night of May 2.

Police said they responded to the home twice the day before. They explained someone familiar with the family asked them to conduct a welfare check. After the homicides, the NAACP called on Mayor Linda Gorton and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council to open an independent investigation.

The NAACP said this is not a matter of indicting officers but to see if they followed proper protocol.

“We cannot afford to lose more kids. We cannot afford to continue to have people facing mental health issues get scraped under the rug,” Lexington NAACP Whit Whitaker said.

Police said the officers who responded to James’ home did not see any signs of mental illness. They said James told them she did not know who made the welfare check call and that she did not need any assistance.

Police noted they found no reason to put James’ children in protective custody. The NAACP is now asking police to release 911 recordings and police body camera footage from those checks the night before the murders.

“We want to make sure that they followed every policy to the line of the law, that they did everything they needed to do ensure that this type of thing wouldn’t happen,” Whitaker said.

Police said they are reviewing the NAACP’s requests and have no further comment.

Susan Straub from the mayor’s office told WKYT the mayor has limited comments about the case since it’s still an open investigation. She noted police answered some questions raised by the NAACP. Those answers were posted to the police department’s website on May 21.

“The mayor is happy to meet with the president of the NAACP,” Straub said.

She mentioned there is an established method for raising concerns about police policy which can be found here.

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