Newly released police body camera footage shows a Kentucky officer breaking a woman’s arm during a welfare check, prompting public backlash and legal action.
The incident occurred in 2024 after officers responded to a 911 call reporting a possible suicide. According to reports, the woman at the center of the call was uncooperative when officers arrived. The situation escalated, leading to a physical confrontation in which Officer Douglas Ullrich forcibly restrained the woman, resulting in a fractured arm.
Officer Ullrich was later identified and has since been charged in connection with the incident. Public records reveal he has previously faced multiple complaints and lawsuits related to use-of-force incidents.
The release of the footage sparked swift and widespread criticism. Many viewers condemned the officer’s handling of the situation, especially in light of the woman’s apparent mental health crisis. Civil rights advocates and mental health professionals have pointed to the case as a failure of appropriate crisis intervention by law enforcement.
Despite the backlash, some individuals have defended the officer’s actions, citing the woman’s resistance during the encounter.
In February 2025, the woman filed a federal lawsuit against Officer Ullrich and the city, alleging excessive force, failure to accommodate her mental health disability, and other civil rights violations.
The case remains under investigation.
On the evening of October 27, 2024, Kathleen Keitz sat alone in her car outside a store, quietly reeling from personal heartbreak, when Officer Ullrich appeared at her window like a storm. He tapped the glass and informed her, without warning, that someone had reported her as suicidal.
Shocked and confused, Keitz firmly told him she was not a danger to herself. But her words were ignored. Ullrich ordered her out of the car for a weapons search, stripping her of dignity and privacy. Without cause, he confiscated her phone, and moments later, he and another officer seized her wrists.
Though visibly shaken—still processing the betrayal of a cheating boyfriend—Keitz remained cooperative. She had broken no law. She had harmed no one. Yet the officers treated her as if she were volatile, dangerous, or worse.
In a tone dripping with condescension, Ullrich reportedly told her, “I’m simply attempting to assert authority over you due to your erratic behavior.”
But the nightmare didn’t end there.
Later that same day, two Covington police officers unlawfully forced their way into her home under the pretense of searching for a neighbor. Keitz, already rattled and furious, confronted them about their dishonesty and objected to being searched again.
Her defiance enraged them.
Without warning, Ullrich grabbed her left arm and yanked it violently behind her back. The sickening crack of bone filled the room. Keitz screamed in agony, “Oh my God, my arm!”—a raw, gut-wrenching cry that echoed the injustice of what she had endured.
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