LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A former Louisville Metro Police officer is facing a federal criminal charge for firing a pepperball at a woman shortly before the shooting death of business owner David McAtee during protests in west Louisville in 2020.
Katie Crews, 29, was indicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Louisville by a federal grand jury on a civil rights charge of using unreasonable force.
Crews "fired a pepperball at M.M., striking M.M., on June 1, 2020, while M.M. was standing on private property and not posing a threat to the defendant or others," the indictment says.
The charge — deprivation of rights under color of law — carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
"I am kind of happy that she is going to be charged because by the way I look at it she is the one that started all of that. She started it," said Odessa Riley, David McAtee's mother.
LMPD said Wednesday fired Crews last month.
“Katie Crews is no longer an employee of the Louisville Metro Police Department," the department said in a statement. "Ms. Crews was terminated on February 7, 2022. At this time, LMPD respectfully declines further comment on this matter.”
Her attorney, Steve Schroering, declined to comment on the indictment.
"We agree with the Grand Jury's decision today that criminal activity by LMPD in the unwarranted shooting at innocent bystanders outside YaYa's BBQ is what directly lead to the death of David McAtee," said Steve Romines, an attorney for McAtee's family. "These charges are evidence of LMPD's complete disregard for its own policies and the safety of citizens of Louisville. The city's denial of responsibility are just proof that despite claims of accountability and transparency, nothing has changed."
In May, Jefferson Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine announced his office would not pursue criminal charges against any of the LMPD officers or National Guard members involved in the shooting.
Wine ruled he would not present the case to a Jefferson grand jury because the officers were acting in self-defense, responding to McAtee first shooting at law enforcement.
He concluded it would "not be appropriate" to charge Crews with fourth-degree assault as the "definition of physical injury cannot be proven," based on an interview with Machelle McAtee.
While he decided Crews should not be criminally charged, Wine wrote that "Crews' failure to follow written policy cannot be ignored and conduct, while not criminal, should be reviewed by LMPD" for possible violations.
The incident and subsequent death of David McAtee, killed by a Kentucky National Guard soldier, occurred after Louisville police and guard members arrived at Dino’s Food Mart at 26th Street and Broadway in the Russell neighborhood to disperse a crowd in violation of the then-citywide curfew in response to protests over the death of Breonna Taylor.
McAtee's restaurant was across the street.
The woman hit by the pepperball, Machelle McAtee, was David "YaYa" McAtee's niece.
"I am actually excited, happy, you know, because something needs to be done," Michelle McAtee said Wednesday after hearing about the charges. "It's been a long time."
Crews told police she saw a woman standing in the doorway refusing to go inside and then fired pepper balls at her and the business.
“She was standing in, I don’t want to say an aggressive manner but as a manner that she was not going to go inside,” Crews said of McAtee’s niece, who was working at YaYa’s BBQ that night.
“After giving verbal commands, I did shoot more pepper balls in her direction,” Crews told investigators in a June 5, 2020, interview. “She still refused, so I did shoot off more non-lethal pepper balls in her direction.”
Video shows that as Machelle McAtee is pulled inside by David McAtee, he leans out the door and fires a bullet. When he reaches out and fires again seconds later, Crews, LMPD Officer Allen Austin and two members of the National Guard returned fire, 18 shots in total.
Attorneys for McAtee’s family have said Crews initiated the sequence of events leading to McAtee’s death, shooting pepper balls at people in front of YaYa’s, forcing them to run inside the restaurant’s kitchen door and then continuing to fire, hitting McAtee’s niece multiple times.
An unidentified guardsman fired the only bullet that struck and killed McAtee, 53. He was shot once in the chest.
At the time Crews initially began moving toward YaYa’s, she said she fired an initial pepper ball at the ground, sending people rushing inside the business, crowding the doorway, according to a video of her interview with police.
Machelle McAtee appears to have her hands behind her back leaning against the door as initial shots were fired.
She can be seen on surveillance video standing in YaYa’s doorway ducking inside as pepper balls hit her and explode in puffs of smoke around her. Crews continues moving onto the property firing repeatedly from just feet away.
Police had arrived at the scene only a few minutes earlier.
David McAtee’s family and attorneys say he didn’t know who was shooting at his restaurant and fired up in the air, not at officers. Police have said McAtee fired at officers.
“I noticed she got pulled into the building by her arm and all in the same motion that is when I seen a Black male that had white on his shirt come out and … saw the muzzle flash of a gun being shot at us,” Crews said.
Crews said that while other people were running into YaYa’s, Machelle McAtee “was not compliant to my verbal commands so I did send off more pepper balls in her area.”
When she still didn’t comply, Crews said, “I did shoot more that did strike her.”
In her interview with police, Crews did not say that officers were threatened by anyone at YaYa’s before she started shooting pepper balls.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of McAtee’s mother accuses law enforcement of making a series of escalating mistakes, including firing pepper balls at fleeing citizens on private property, trespassing, turning off body cameras and using deadly force without justification or warning. The lawsuit is pending.
Crews said officers were clearing the area because at the time there was a 9 p.m. curfew.
“Whenever people were not going inside the building or making an effort to move, I did shoot off one round of non-lethal pepper ball onto the ground,” she said.
After she shot pepper balls at people and into the business, McAtee shot his weapon and Crews returned fire.
“In that instance, in fear of my life and for everybody else behind me, that’s whenever I decided to return fire," Crews said. “I did not stop shooting until the threat was neutralized.”
McAtee was inside his home and business grilling. At the time, there had been four nights of protests over Taylor's March killing by Louisville police.
According to the lawsuit filed by McAtee’s family, people were “not protesting, vandalizing or looting” when police and guard members “swarmed” the area in unmarked vans and armored vehicles and began yelling for people to leave.
An analysis of the bullet fragments recovered from McAtee’s body show they were fired from a guard member, but investigators have not been able to identify which rifle they came from. He died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.
Two shell casings from a 9mm pistol were found near the doorway of the business, one inside and one outside.
McAtee and his niece had committed no crime or disobeyed any commands from law enforcement, the suit says.
Also, before the shooting, Crews had "publicly stated her desire to inflict harm on protesters "in a social media post, according to the lawsuit.
Crews posted a photo on social media of a protester putting flowers up to her chest and wrote, "She was saying and doing a lot more than 'offering flowers' to me. Just so for it to be known. For anyone that knows me and knows that my facial expression tells everything. P.S 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."
The Facebook post is included in the lawsuit, which said that “tragically, Crews’ aggression and desire to inflict harm on others was taken out on David McAtee and his niece.”
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