LOUISVILLE, KY (WDRB) -- A city leader says a recent shooting involving a constable should serve as a wake up call that the elected law enforcement position needs more oversight.
Metro Councilman Bob Henderson says the council missed an opportunity during the 2003 city merger to more clearly define what the role of a constable should be in Louisville.
Henderson contends the position is no longer needed, but says the Metro Council doesn't have the authority to act. Because constables are elected officials, they often act independently. Henderson and other city leaders have raised concerns about the lack of training required for the position.
Henderson wants the state legislature to change the state's constitution to perhaps remove constables from first-class cities.
Constable David Whitlock is accused of shooting Tammie Ortiz outside a Walmart on Nov. 2 on suspicion of shoplifting. Whitlock, who was off-duty at the time, says he was asked by store security to stop Ortiz.
Authorities say when he approached her, Ortiz ran over his foot and he fired his handgun. An attorney for Ortiz says his client was shot in the arm and face, and called Whitlock "a reckless cowboy."
Ortiz, who has a lengthy criminal history under the name Tammy Lee Jamian, has been arrested in the past for various crimes including burglary, theft and prostitution. But attorney Maury Kommor says none of that matters.
"He didn't know if she was Mother Teresa or Ted Bundy... he shot her face. He's a reckless cowboy who had no idea who she was," said Kommor during a phone interview Sunday night.
Whitlock has been accused of being overly aggressive in the past – something he denies. He says Ortiz ran over his foot and he fired. Kommor disputes that, saying the constable was not hurt.
"It's about what I expected to happen," Henderson remembers thinking after hearing about the shooting.
Henderson says the position isn't well defined and leaves elected officials with arrest power and the ability to be armed.
"You don't take a chance on taking somebody's life over a TV or a $50 item or a $100 item," Henderson said.
Whitlock holds an office off of Dixie Highway. He's been scrutinized by the Metro Council before for his uniform and blue lights on his vehicle.
Henderson believes the Metro Council missed an opportunity to reign in the constable's powers.
"But it's not something we didn't see," Henderson said. "And that's a shame. We see trouble, we just didn't know what trouble was. We're lucky -- somebody could be dead today. Him or her. I don't know."
Louisville Metro Police Department's public integrity unit is investigating the shooting.
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