The Mayor of Louisville fired the city's Chief of Police Steve Conrad after officers failed to record a shooting on their bodycams.
The officers killed David McAtee, locally known as the "BBQ man", while firing into a crowd after curfew on Monday night.
McAtee, who owns the nearby YaYa's BBQ Shack, was known to give police officers free meals at his restaurant.
Deputy Chief Robert Schroeder commented:
"Over the years he's been a good friend to the police officers … frequently making sure our officers had a good meal on their shifts."
Anti-violence activist Christopher 2X described McAtee.
"I've never known him to be aggressive in any kind of way."
The officers were responding to gunfire from nearby.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear demanded bodycam footage of the incident be released for investigation.
Why do the cops have the ability to turn those cameras on or off? You just open the door for crap like this to happen. They should be something that stays on once when you wear it and doesn't turn off until you take it back to the station.
— The Archfiend (@TheArchfiend) June 1, 2020
Shortly thereafter, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer revealed officers either failed to turn on their bodycams or turned them off, a serious breach of policy.
The addition of bodycams has been a valuable tool for policing. But police turning off or failing to turn on their bodycams is a serious issue, like in the death of Zachary Bear Heels where Omaha police officers also broke department policy regarding bodycams.
Fischer said:
"This type of institutional failure will not be tolerated. Accordingly, I have relieved Steve Conrad of his duties as chief of Louisville Metro Police Department."
The Louisville mayor just fired the police chief.
— Curtis Keep Your Social Distance Tate (@tatecurtis) June 1, 2020
Conrad was already resigning, with plans to leave the force next month.
Will being fired affect Louisville's police chief's retirement benefits?
— Suzie Daniels (@CMVCat) June 1, 2020
Governor Beshear spoke out against the lack of bodycam footage:
"This is the entire reason that we have those cameras. And every other officers' cameras should be reviewed, and if they captured any part of the scene it ought to be released."
"The burden of the brutalized is not to comfort the bystander. That's not our job. All right, stop with all that. If you have a critique for the resistance, for our resistance, then you better have an established record of critique of our oppression." Jesse Williams
— Kamara Mikel (@KamaraMikel1) June 1, 2020
State and federal prosecutors will also be investigating the shooting.
US Attorney Russell Coleman issued a statement saying:
"We understand this community's need for answers and we will assess all the information, and will take any appropriate action that is warranted by the facts and the law."
All those officers whos cameras were off should be fired.
— Josh Cohn (@J_M_COHN) June 1, 2020
David McAtee deserves justice.
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AMC