LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The grandmother of a 16-year-old shot by a Louisville Metro Police officer on Feb. 20 in the city's Chickasaw neighborhood has filed a lawsuit against the officer and department, claiming the officer's behavior was reckless and unjustified.
The juvenile, identified only by his initials C.L. in the lawsuit, was one of two teens shot by Officer Brendan Kaiser after officers were called to the 800 block of South 38th Street around 6 p.m. on a report from a community member that several juveniles had illegally entered a garage on a vacant property in what was believed to be a stolen car.
Police have said they believe Kaiser accidentally fired his weapon. The juveniles were unarmed.
LMPD does not comment on pending litigation. Claims filed in a lawsuit present only one side of the case.Â
Officers drew their weapons when they arrived "due to multiple unknown threats," according to police.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Jefferson Circuit Court, claims Kaiser made a series of mistakes before firing his weapon once, hitting two juveniles.
When Kaiser arrived to the closed garage, he did not announce himself or identify the presence of police to the juveniles inside, according to the lawsuit and body camera footage.
When the teens attempted to open the garage, Kaiser prevented it, again without giving any notice that he was a police officer.
After the teens tried again and did open the garage, Kaiser moved towards them with his weapon drawn and his finger on the trigger of his gun.Â
As the juveniles ran away – while making no aggressive or threatening movement towards police – Kaiser fired a shot that went through C.L.'s back and midsection, according to the lawsuit.
The bullet also struck one of the other juveniles.
Attorney Sam Aguiar, who represents C.L. and also represented the family of Breonna Taylor, argued there have been multiple improper shootings because of inadequate training by the department.
He noted a recent example of an LMPD firearms instructor shooting a recruit during training and a previous firearms instructor driving to work after drinking and teaching recruits while he had alcohol in his system.
And Aguiar mentioned the raid and shooting of Taylor, noting one officer charged in the raid, Brett Hankison, fired multiple shots blindly into Taylor's apartment as well as one next door.
In addition, Aguiar listed several findings from a scathing report by the Department of Justice, which accused the department of engaging in practices for years that violated the U.S. Constitution and federal law, including excessive use of force against teenagers and improper training.
Kaiser, a six-year veteran of the department, shot and killed a former church musician back in 2018. He had responded to a call in the West End about Isaac Jackson, who was suffering from mental illness, and threatening relatives.
Kaiser was exonerated of any wrongdoing in the shooting.Â
In 2022, Kaiser was suspended for four days for a violation of courtesy and de-escalation violations. The lawsuit claims police did not provide details of the incident in his personnel file.Â
For the recent shooting, Kaiser was placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol.
Department policy has called for cases in which an LMPD officer shoots someone to be investigated by Kentucky State Police. But LMPD said KSP "instructed LMPD to conduct the investigation" in this most recent case.
No charges have been filed yet against the four juveniles who were the scene, but police have said the car was determined to have been stolen.
In a previous statement, Aguiar said whether the shooting was intentional or not, he "shot multiple unarmed boys who were trying to run" and then did not say anything to officers arriving at the scene about firing the shot.
"This shooting is a huge problem," he said. "And this officer is a huge problem who needs to be fired."
The lawsuit is seeking a jury trial and unspecified monetary damages.
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