Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the launch of a “pattern or practice” investigation into Louisville’s government and the city’s police department to determine whether there were violations of constitutional rights or federal statutes, less than a week after announcing such an investigation into Minneapolis.
“Today, the Justice Department is opening a civil investigation into the Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government and the Louisville Metro Police Department to determine whether LMPD engages in a pattern or practice of violations of the Constitution or federal law,” Garland said Monday. “Today’s announcement is based upon an extensive review of publicly available information about LMPD conducted by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.”
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The investigation is to be led by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, headed by the newly confirmed Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, with help from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky. Garland briefly mentioned the death of Breonna Taylor, who was killed by Louisville police in March 2020.
Garland previously announced a “pattern or practice” civil investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department following former officer Derek Chauvin being found guilty last Tuesday in the murder of George Floyd.
Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man, died in police custody on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin pinned him down by placing a knee on his neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd and onlookers called on the police to stop. Chauvin, 45, was found guilty by a jury of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. Chauvin faces up to 40 years in prison, and his sentencing hearing will take place in eight weeks.
Footage of Floyd’s death in police custody set off a wave of outrage, leading to protests in major cities across the nation, many of which became violent as protesters rioted, looted stores, destroyed property, burned buildings, and clashed with police. Rioting in Minneapolis resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
The Justice Department said Monday that its Louisville investigation will assess “all types of force used by LMPD officers, including use of force on individuals with behavioral health disabilities or individuals engaged in activities protected by the First Amendment,” and will scrutinize “whether LMPD engages in discriminatory policing, and also whether it conducts unreasonable stops, searches, seizures, and arrests, both during patrol activities and in obtaining and executing search warrants for private homes.” DOJ said the investigation will also include “a comprehensive review of LMPD policies, training, and supervision, as well as LMPD’s systems of accountability, including misconduct complaint intake, investigation, review, disposition, and discipline.”
DOJ already reached out to Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, LMPD Chief Erika Shields, Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell, and Louisville Metro Council President David James about the investigation, and it said that “as part of this investigation, the Department of Justice will reach out to community groups and members of the public to learn about their experiences” with police.
Taylor, a 26-year old emergency room technician, was shot and killed in her apartment by Louisville police on March 13, 2020. Three police officers obtained a “no knock” warrant and forcibly entered her apartment as part of an anti-drug operation just after midnight, with officers claiming they announced themselves before entering, but Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said they did not. Walker said he fired a shot at them thinking they were intruders, and law enforcement officials said a bullet hit one of the officers in the leg. Police fired 32 shots, and Taylor was hit by multiple bullets and died. One of the officers, Brett Hankison, was fired last June for seemingly firing blindly into Taylor’s apartment, and a grand jury approved an indictment against Hankison for wanton endangerment for shots that endangered Taylor’s neighbors.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced in September that Louisville’s government had “settled a civil lawsuit with the estate of Breonna Taylor, including a $12 million payment and an agreement on several policy changes and reforms, including new drug testing rules for LMPD officers, an incentive for officers to live in specific neighborhoods and a new level of scrutiny over search warrants.”
On Monday, Garland said: “When we announced the investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department last week, we received an immediate pledge of support from Minneapolis Mayor [Jacob] Frey and MPD Chief [Medaria] Arradondo.”
He added, “We have briefed Louisville Mayor Fischer and LMPD Chief Shields on our investigation in Louisville. They, too, have pledged their support and cooperation. Louisville has already taken some steps toward reform through its settlement with the family of Breonna Taylor, as well as through other measures. We commend those measures, and our investigation will take them into account.”
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has repeatedly defended his decision not to recommend that the grand jury charge the officers in connection with Taylor’s death, instead recommending the wanton endangerment charges, and Cameron, Kentucky’s first black attorney general, told Fox News this weekend: “I don’t believe this country is systemically racist. What I believe is this country has always tried from the very beginning to become a more perfect union, and certainly, we’ve had our challenges throughout this nation’s history, and there’s no hiding from that.”
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A senior DOJ official stressed during a press call that the department had a separate investigation looking just at Taylor’s death and said a pattern or practice investigation similar to the one announced on Monday would never be launched just based on one event.
