With settlement off table, trial requested in suit against ex-KSP trooper
Published 6:00 am Sunday, August 23, 2026
Attorneys suing a former Kentucky State Police trooper for using excessive force against a handcuffed arrestee have asked for a trial date after the judge presiding over the case declined to sign off on a settlement.
Timothy Heston has a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court against former KSP trooper Aaron Tucker, in which Tucker is accused of excessive force, assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress following Heston’s arrest on March 17, 2019.
Tucker encountered Heston walking along the shoulder of Interstate 65 on that date and arrested him on several criminal charges.
While escorting a handcuffed Heston through the sally port of Warren County Regional Jail on the wya to booking, Tucker punched and kicked Heston and then threw him to the concrete floor, and then falsified a narrative report about the incident, according to court records.
KSP fired Tucker after an internal investigation, and Heston spent 11 months in jail before the criminal charges against him were dismissed.
The lawsuit was filed in 2020.
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Attorneys for Heston and Tucker reached an agreement late last year to dismiss the case in exchange for a judgment against Tucker in the amount of $700,000, with Tucker responsible for paying $10,000 of that amount to Heston.
A hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Greg Stivers was requested to discuss the reasonableness of the settlement, and Stivers ultimately ruled that the attorneys failed to make their case that $700,000 was a reasonable amount to award to Heston given the circumstances of the assault.
In a written ruling, Stivers found that Heston had not shown he sustained any significant injury or received medical attention as the result of Tucker’s actions, while also noting that what Tucker did was “clearly unacceptable.”
Attorney Elliot Slosar, representing Heston, filed a motion on Aug. 13 requesting a trial date, saying that Stivers’ ruling against the proposed settlement “dooms the resolution” to the lawsuit that both sides were seeking.
Slosar said in his motion that he anticipates a trial to last two days and requests the trial to take place Nov. 17-18, adding that Tucker’s attorney, Matt Feltner, does not object to a trial and will be available on those days.
In the event that the trial cannot be held on those days, Slosar requested a scheduling conference to establish a trial date.
