A Russellville man plans to sue two Logan County Sheriff’s deputies for allegedly injuring him during a November arrest for public alcohol intoxication.

The incident has prompted some to question why one of the deputies, David Kitchens, is still in law enforcement with a past of similar abuse-of-authority complaints.

Michael Pursley, 37, said Kitchens and Deputy Jonathan Shackelford entered his house at 394 Mud River Valley Road without a warrant, used a Taser on him twice, kneed him in the back and kicked him in the chest. He also said they pulled his hair and slammed his head against the police car outside.

&#8220I was helpless. They beat me up after I was restrained,” said Pursley, who’s looking for a lawyer.

The threatened litigation comes from an obnoxious &#8220neighborhood bully” who’s merely after money, according to Kitchens, who in an e-mail to the Daily News denied striking or kicking Pursley.

&#8220I did, however, throw rocks at his dog to keep from being bit,” wrote Kitchens, noting that deputies were called to Pursley’s house at least 10 times in 2005.

Pursley emerged from his house after a loud scuffle that night – cuffed, staggering and flanked by deputies – as captured on a police car video. A woman complained that Pursley had been wandering the neighborhood drunk, but he was at his own property when the deputies arrived, according to two witnesses.

The roughly 10-minute video begins with Kitchens repeatedly warning Pursley to get inside his house. Pursley then walks toward his house. Moments later, the patrol car speeds onto his property, followed by a pursuit of Pursley through the front door of his house.

Loud rap music emanated from the police car.

&#8220Get up or I’ll drag your a— out to the car,” yelled one deputy from inside the house.

The video includes several obscenities by both Pursley and the deputies and Pursley inquiring about the charges – slurring his speech in the process.

&#8220I’m gonna sue your a—, you know that?” Pursley said from the back seat of the car.

&#8220I’ll gladly show you the video once you sober up,” one of the deputies told Pursley, shortly before arriving at the jail.

Lisa Ogles, 37, and J.B. Wilson, 54, a couple who live across from Pursley, witnessed the arrest. Ogles said Pursley hasn’t always been her favorite neighbor because he tends to play music too loud, but she doesn’t think he’s harmful.

She said considerable &#8220thumping” sounds were heard from inside Pursley’s house. Although her view was obscured at times, she said she heard a loud thud as Pursley was deposited into the cruiser.

Ogles said Pursley’s girlfriend let her tour the house that night, after Pursley was arrested. She said she saw shattered glass in the bedroom, a broken coffee table and several knocked down hanging baskets.

&#8220It wasn’t right at all,” Ogles said. &#8220They ‘tased’ the dog; I saw the dog on the ground.”

Kitchens’ use-of-force report said an &#8220air” Taser was deployed but failed to strike Pursley, who was pepper sprayed in his bedroom, with &#8220no other force necessary.”

Pursley, however, said he has pictures of Taser wounds taken about a week after his arrest. He keeps a Taser probe the officers didn’t recover in a plastic bag. It looks like a small fish hook.

According to Kitchens, Pursley &#8220took up a fighting stance,” daring to be arrested. When Pursley persisted with threats after being ordered to go inside, Kitchens said he and Shackelford decided to &#8220affect the arrest” – pursuing Pursley into the house because officers knew he has several firearms inside his bedroom.

But Pursley said he’s never drawn a gun on anyone and the altercation has cost him thousands, as he claims to take more than 100 painkillers a month and to need periodic pain-killing injections for his back.

Having known Pursley more than a decade, Kitchens dismissed the alleged injuries, claiming Pursley has complained of health problems before.

Pursley acknowledges he was disabled by separate hunting and car accidents several years ago, but said he might have to file bankruptcy over the alleged arrest injuries.

A February account statement for Pursley from The Medical Center confirms nearly $5,000 in charges. Several receipts for various pain-killing tablets prescribed to Pursley range from about $30 to $50 each, starting in December.

According to a March orthopedic report, Pursley was diagnosed with &#8220symptomatic degenerative disease of the lumbar spine with what sounds like discogenic pain … present since early November.” A magnetic resonance imaging scan demonstrates &#8220disc space disease with degenerative changes” and &#8220right and left disc protrusions.” Pursley’s physician recommended epidural steroid injections, followed by surgery if Pursley’s back doesn’t improve.

For the November incident, Pursley was charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, terroristic threatening and public alcohol intoxication. All but the last charge were dismissed in court.

Russellville attorney Fred Greene, who represented Pursley, said his former client pleaded guilty to alcohol intoxication because of the uncertainty of juries and to avoid jail time.

Greene said Logan County Attorney Tom Noe gave Pursley a good offer, which just involved paying a fine, although &#8220I think (Pursley) had some good defenses to the charges.”

Pursley’s past is checkered by misdemeanors, including a guilty plea to public intoxication in 2004. In 2001, Pursley pleaded guilty to assaulting a former in-law, who Pursley says threatened his son. Pursley was ordered to pay $250 in restitution.

&#8220It doesn’t matter what I’ve done in my past,” Pursley said. &#8220I did have something to drink that night, but I was on my own property.”

Kitchens was arrested himself in 1997 and accused of assaulting his ex-wife while he was an officer with the Russellville Police Department. Both parties were visibly intoxicated and displayed injuries, according to the police report filed by current Russellville Police Chief Barry Dill, an officer at the time.

According to Logan Memorial Hospital records, Kitchen’s ex-wife suffered multiple bruises to her face, eyes and forehead, as well as nasal bleeding. She was struck several times in the face and other areas after her initial aggression, according to witnesses’ statements.

Kitchens resigned the next day after being confronted about the matter, said former Russellville Mayor Ken Smith, who left office in 1999.

&#8220He never did admit anything,” Smith said.

At another post, as sergeant for the Oak Grove Police Department from 1998 to 2001, Kitchens resigned following a settlement reached by the city for alleged excessive force. The claim involved a man who had been detained, but not arrested, for alcohol intoxication.

Kitchens wrote that he resigned from the Russellville Police Department to work at the Logan County Sheriff’s Department briefly (his first stint there) before going to Oak Grove, where he was mostly a supervisor, &#8220for more money and retirement.”

He offered no explanation for his Oak Grove resignation, but noted that he twice received officer of the year awards there.

Documents contained in Kitchens’ Oak Grove personnel file reveal that although the city’s former mayor, Jean Leavell, accepted his resignation on Nov. 29, 2001, she sought his dismissal three days earlier, evidenced by a letter notifying Kitchens that his termination was based on the &#8220allegation of abuse of your official authority” and violating department rules. The letter cited the Sept. 2, 2001, &#8220excessive physical force” complaint as a primary cause.

Reached for clarification, Leavell said she wasn’t sure if Kitchens received the letter, but she had grown tired of fielding complaints about him. In other disciplinary measures, Kitchens was demoted from sergeant to patrolman on Sept. 26, 2001, and was suspended without pay once for three days due to &#8220conduct inappropriate for a team leader” while on duty picking up a prisoner in Panama City, Fla.

Hopkinsville attorney Kenneth Haggard, who won the Oak Grove settlement (Holland v. Kitchens) on behalf of his client, said he was &#8220shocked to hear that (Kitchens) was still carrying a badge.”

Haggard, who’s not at liberty to discuss the settlement amount, said if not for cameras installed at the jail a few days before the alleged assault, his client could’ve been prosecuted on felony charges of assaulting a police officer, which Kitchens sought through the commonwealth’s attorney’s office.

&#8220You just wouldn’t think police officers are lying like that,” Haggard said.

Oak Grove Police Sgt. Michael McCullum, who arrested the driver of Haggard’s client, compared the jail video to Kitchens’ written statements.

In a letter addressed to Leavell, Oak Grove Police Chief Milton Perry and the city council, McCullum wrote, &#8220It is plain to see on the tape that at no time did (Haggard’s client) become disorderly, kick the cell door, or shout cuss words,” as Kitchens claimed. Instead, the prisoner simply requested to use the bathroom, McCullum wrote, which provoked Kitchens to push and strike him, leaving bruises and contusions, according to the lawsuit.

Furthermore, Kitchens made &#8220lame attempts to cover it up” by not filing a use-of-force report and &#8220fabricating a story to all of the officers. It is clear to see that it did not happen the way he said it did.”

&#8220How can we as law enforcement officers be allowed to treat innocent citizens this way?” McCullum added. &#8220Maybe next time, it will be much worse than what Mr. Holland went through.”

In a follow-up letter to Leavell, Perry backed McCullum’s recommendation to fire Kitchens.

Bowling Green attorney David Cole Jr. is also familiar with Kitchens’ Oak Grove history, having successfully sued the city (Milo Rodgers v. city of Oak Grove and officers Ford and Pelfrey) for $2.5 million in October 2004 for excessive force in October 2001 by two officers under Kitchens’ direct supervision.

&#8220For the Logan County Sheriff’s office to hire Kitchens shows a total lack of judgment,” Cole said. &#8220It amounts to negligent hiring.”

Logan County Sheriff Wallace Whittaker defended his deputies’ actions in the Pursley incident, as well as Kitchens’ record.

Whittaker said he viewed some of the police video and didn’t think excessive force was used by his deputies to arrest Pursley.

&#8220When a guy sits in the back seat and says he’s going to sue … that’s telling something,” he said.

Pursley is a &#8220good guy,” Whittaker said, &#8220but when he gets wound up, he gets wound up.” He said the sheriff’s office has dealt with him since 1997.

Whittaker said he’s willing to fire employees for probable cause, but &#8220when we did a background (check), there wasn’t a termination letter” on Kitchens and &#8220we never had anything negative come back on him.”

&#8220There is no grounds to fire (Kitchens),” Whittaker added. &#8220David is an excellent officer.”

Kitchens’ stern policing demeanor isn’t pleasing to everybody, Whittaker said, but that’s the style he learned in the Marines, where he served in the first Gulf War.