This post was shared via CopBlock.org’s ‘submit‘ tab by Jonathan Bernard.
On the day of my interaction with Mr. Rifenbark, a woman and a man came into my home. They forced their way in and assaulted me and my wife while my children watched in horror. The man and the woman were clearly on some sort of hard drug, like bath salts. Their eyes were dead and they had a blank look to them. They were also slobbering at the mouth.
One of them managed to knock my little girl into a table, causing her to hit her head. When they finally did stop and exit my home through the front door, I jumped at the chance to slam and lock the door shut at which point the man and the woman pounced on the door, beating, thrashing, and kicking it to the point where it was going to break. I threw all of my weight against it holding it until cops could get there.
I instructed my wife to call the cops while I held the door shut. I then instructed my wife on what she should tell the police. I told her to tell them that there are two people trying to kill us, and that they should hurry. First 15 minutes went by, then 30, and then an hour went by – meanwhile, the man and woman were still trying their best to find a way into my home.
I instructed my wife to call state police instead, in the hopes they would be more responsible and actually come. Another 30 minutes went by, then a state trooper and an Irvine local cop, Karl Rifenbark pulled in at the same time. The man and woman had already run off. Mr. Rifenbark came to my door, and I was glad to see him. I thought, “Thank god for help,” and up until that point I had believed Mr. Rifenbark was a good guy. Little did I know that I would soon learn differently.
Rifenbark proceeded to ask me just a couple of questions about who it was and what they had done, so I told him. He said to wait here a minute and he headed out to the man and woman’s house. 30 minutes or so went by, then he came back; his eyes were now red as fire and glossy, and he said, “They said you broke into their house and assaulted them.” My heart sank a little and I said they were lying. I explained that I weigh 120 pounds, and that the man who assaulted me weighs at the least 260 pounds. Why on earth would I kick in his door and assault him? Does that make any sense?
He then asked whether I had somewhere I could go. I pointed out that this was my home. He stated that I would need to find somewhere else to stay for a while. My mind was blown, and I turned to my wife and kids and said to get our things and go.
We piled everything in the trunk and loaded up the kids in the car. We closed the doors and we were ready to go. I heard 3 knocks on my window; it was officer Karl Rifenbark. He asked that I step out for a moment and I complied. I exited the vehicle, closed the door behind me, and what happened next was shocking. He proceeded to say, “Did you call me a pussy?” I replied, “What do you mean? I never said anything of the kind, why would I do that when I called for your help?”
He then stated, “Someone said you called me a pussy. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll take off my belt and my badge and whoop your ass all over this yard.” Again my heart sank. There stood an officer of the law making threats on my life for a reason unknown while my daughters and wife stood by in the car not knowing that this officer was about to assault me.
Suddenly I had a moment of clarity. I thought, “if I respond wrong, he is going to beat me half to death in front of my children, same as the meth addict tried to do only an hour before he went over there and came back with red eyes… oh my god, this officer took the same drugs and as a result also became violent.” After having this thought, I just came out and said, “I swear on my life and cross my heart, man, I never called you no pussy or nothing of the sort.”
Mr Rifenbark then said, “Well, I don’t give a damn about your heart if I beat your ass and then take your ass to jail, understand?” I shook my head “yes,” at a complete loss. He then instructed me to get back in my vehicle and leave my own home, “or else,” he said. The unknown state trooper was standing there the whole time, laughing and smiling about what was said to me. A threat was made on my life and the trooper did nothing but enjoy it.
At the time, I had no license at all, but that didn’t matter to them; they instructed me to drive anyway and so I did. I drove so fast it scared me, as I was afraid that those two goons would catch back up to me and assault me in front of my wife and children after all. So, in the end we ended up going to Richmond to stay with someone for a while. On the way down there, a Richmond ‘Madison County’ cop pulled me over and said I was speeding 6 miles an hour over the speed limit. He went to his car, came back and said, “Okay, there is a warrant out for your arrest in Irvine, KY, but something does not look right about this warrant.” He continued, “I know this warrant is wrong and invalid, but the law says I have to arrest you anyway.” So, he did. I was released the next morning and told sorry. Sorry? Really? After some investigating and putting two and two together, I figured out that Mr Rifenbark somehow issued some sort of fake warrant for my arrest for which I did spend a night in jail. My little girls cried hard that night when I had to get into that cop car after all of that. After watching that man and woman assault their mommy and daddy, after watching the mean cop mistreat daddy, now here is another cop taking daddy away.
As a result, I don’t sleep anymore, I don’t eat well, and I have little or no trust of authorities or people. I don’t like public places anymore and I don’t like to drive. I feel like if I ever needed help again, I could never call the police out of fear that they too might bring harm to me or my family. So, when one needs help where does one turn?
Irvine, KY Cop Karl Rifenbark Threatened My Life is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
