Joshua Hammann, Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The recent police shooting of a handcuffed man and the subsequent unrest throughout the city indicate steps taken to improve police-community relations have been ineffective, experts say.
Nick Pastore, a police and community consultant, visited Louisville after the 1999 Desmond Rudolph shooting to meet with police, government and coummunity leaders. Pastore spent several days in Louisville shortly after two officers fatally shot Rudolph, a black car-theft suspect.
Pastore, with the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation in New Haven, Conn., said he left Louisville more than three years ago impressed with Mayor Dave Armstrong’s and Police Chief Greg Smith’s commitment toward easing the strained relationship much of the city has with police officers.
“The desired amount of progress appears to have not been made,” Pastore said.
“If people are still outraged at what the police do, that’s a clear indication that the police lack the credibility to communitcate with the community they serve.”
Detectives Brian Luckett and Michael O’Neil, both white, were placed on paid administrative leave Thursday after a man the two had handcuffed was fatally shot 12 times. O’Neil fired the shots that killed James Taylor, 50, and Luckett was in the residence with O’Neil at the time.
Police and the FBI are investigating the shooting.
Police and witnesses say Taylor, who was not frisked before or after he was handcuffed behind his back, lunged at the officers with a knife, prompting them to open fire.
“That was a fatal flaw, a very bad mistake by police,” University of South Carolina Professor Geoffrey Alpert said of the detectives’ failure to search Taylor. Alpert, a criminal justice professor, is considered a leading authority on deadly force and advises police departments on policies on the use of force.
“You don’t shoot to kill. You shoot to remove the threat,” Alpert said. “Most officers are taught to shoot at center mass. You don’t shoot at an arm or a leg. That’s movie stuff.”
Smith said Monday that O’Neil gave a verbal warning, and Luckett attempted to take Taylor down by kicking him before the shots were fired.
“It was a rapidly escalated defense,” Smith said. “There was no question that he was armed and that he made aggressive moves toward the officer. We’re trained to protect ourselves as a civilian would.”
According to Alpert, if the officers had no way to retreat or safely distance themselves from the threat, then the use of deadly force may have been justified.
“The bottom line is you have to analyze the threat,” Alpert said.
Religious and community leaders have protested in front of the police station for the past three days demanding the ouster of Smith and Armstrong. Both men leave office when the new Louisville-Jefferson County merged government goes into effect next month. The new police chief, Mayor-elect Jerry Abramson said, will come from outside the city.
Martin Luther King III marched with about 75 protesters Wednesday in Louisville.
“We want law and order to be able to do its job,” King said. “There are many police officers who do their job every day all across our nation, but when police brutality and injustice exists like this, changes need to be made and need to be made immediately.”
“It’s not like this is an anomoly,” Pastore said. “This has been going on now for several years, and it all goes to the credibility factor of the police and the local government. I see it as much of the underlying cause is a black-white issue pertaining to police in the black community.”
Since 2000, Louisville police officers have fatally shot five men, all of whom were black. No charges have been brought against any of the officers involved in the shootings.
“Even if this was acceptable police work, the public is not going to accept it because of the credibility of the police,” Pastore said. “They just don’t believe in the police.”