Ex-officer loses Kansas certification, accused of lying about poking woman, crashing car

A former Butler Community College police officer has been stripped of his law enforcement certification after being accused of lying about poking a female convenience store employee and about crashing a police vehicle, records show.

Alexander Thorpe, 45, of Derby, was fired in January from the college’s Department of Public Safety, where he had worked as an officer since August 2021, according to a summary order of revocation from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training. The organization, also known as KS-CPOST, oversees law enforcement training and certification in Kansas.

The summary order of revocation gives this account:

The first incident involved a woman who worked at a convenience store. On Dec. 21, 2021, a Butler police captain who was buying coffee was asked by an employee at the convenience store if Thorpe was an officer with the department. The woman accused Thorpe of poking her in the upper torso the day before.

The woman said she felt uncomfortable and asked that Thorpe leave her alone.

That same same day, Thorpe was involved in a car chase, lost control of his vehicle and crashed. His superiors were concerned about the incident after reviewing body cam footage and other officer statements that contradicted Thorpe’s explanation.

When Thorpe was questioned about the incident with the employee at the gas station, he denied touching or speaking to the woman and called her a liar.

Surveillance video from the convenience store showed that Thorpe had talked to the woman and showed that he had touched her. He was placed on administrative leave after being questioned about the incidents.

In a later interview with a commission investigator, Thorpe said he did not remember touching the woman. He said that he told Butler department staff that the woman instead touched him.

At the end of the interview, Thorpe said the woman did not touch him, and that he had lied to his superiors about the incident. He was fired from the department on Jan. 10, 2022.

Thorpe is one of two officers in El Dorado to lose their certification last month.

Scott Stewart worked as an officer with the El Dorado Police Department from February 2017 to December 2021. He resigned from his position after concerns surfaced that he had been in an intimate relationship with a woman he arrested in 2018, according to a CPOST order.

KS-CPOST attempted multiple times to interview Stewart.

In an email he expressed no further interest in keeping his certification, saying “taking time to off for an interview I already did with my department is only costing me additional headache and money. If you must revoke my certification, I understand, sir.”