What We Know About Katie Crews, The Cop Involved In The Fatal Shooting Of Louisville Business Owner David McAtee
One of the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Louisville business owner David McAtee and has been identified as Katie Crews. Crews has reportedly been placed on administrative reassignment Monday (June 1) as a result.
Crews was discovered to have made troubling posts about the protests for George Floyd.
On her Facebook page prior to Monday’s shooting, Crews posted a Courier Journal photo of a demonstrator handing her a flower and captioned it, in part, “I hope the pepper balls that she got lit up with a little later on hurt. Come back and get ya some more ole girl, I’ll be on the line again tonight.”
A screenshot of the post circulated on social media sites as Police Chief Robert Schroeder said Monday night that he is aware of the post and started a professional standards investigation into it.
According to USA Today, Crews joined the Louisville Metro Police Department in 2018 and does not have a disciplinary record.
After learning that Crews and LMPD Officer Allen Austin had no body camera footage from the shooting incident in which McAtee died, Mayor Greg Fischer fired Police Chief Steve Conrad.
Louisville police claim McAtee, who owned a popular barbecue restaurant, was fatally shot by law enforcement during a protest rally after he allegedly fired his weapon at them first. McAtee’s family, however, disputes that saying police are trying to excuse the killing.
"I think it shows them trying to justify why they were wrong," said his nephew, Marvin McAtee, who maintains that he "did not try to shoot at the police."
Louisville has been a flashpoint of protest because it is one of the places where incidents of police violence have fueled nationwide outrage. In March, EMT Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by officers in her own home during a drug raid at the wrong location. Policemen opened fire upon coming into her house, a lawsuit filed by her family says. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, thinking their apartment was being burglarized, fired at officers, wounding one. He was arrested, but charges against him were later dropped. The officers involved, Brett Hankison, Myles Cosgrove, and Jonathan Mattingly have not been charged.
