By Matthew Rand & Tanner Hesterberg
WYMT TV
HAZARD, Ky. — Two former guards charged with beating an inmate to death at an Eastern Kentucky jail “made a mistake,” the jail’s administrator said Wednesday.
Kentucky River Regional Jail Administrator Tim Kilburn spoke with WYMT Wednesday for the first time since the day the incident happened.
Larry Trent, 54, died July 9 after an altercation with guards. Damon Hickman, 36 and William Howell, 56, are accused of beating Trent to death.
“The message I’m trying to get out to the public is just because two employees made a mistake, don’t make everybody else look bad because two people mess up,” Kiburn said. The events of the past two and a half months have damages the jails’ reputation, Kilburn said.
“We do a lot for our community that people don’t realize,” he said. “We don’t want one negative incident to define everybody here at the jail.”
Full story: Jail administrator says guards accused of beating inmate to death “made a mistake”