LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – In a recent legal deposition, former Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad said he had no reason to question the critical findings of the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into LMPD.

"The Department of Justice knows what they’re doing — and I don't doubt their findings," Conrad said in a deposition Tuesday for a lawsuit filed by the family of a man killed by LMPD officers. 

Attorneys for the family of Shelby Gazaway, who was killed by LMPD officers after they responded to reports of shots fired inside the Portland Kroger in November 2019, questioned Conrad about that shooting as well as the scathing findings by the DOJ.

And Conrad did not offer much defense for himself or the department when questioned by the Gazaway family's attorney Gregory Simms. 

Conrad said he agrees with much of DOJ report critical of his former department.

Asked if while he was chief, he believed LMPD used excessive force, Conrad said “I’m sure that there were times when that occurred."

When asked if “LMPD conducted search warrants based on invalid warrants," he responded, “I don’t know, but if it’s in there, I assume it happened.”

And after a question as to whether “LMPD unlawfully executed search warrants without knocking and announcing.” Conrad replied, “I’m sure there were situations where that occurred. Yes.”

Conrad also acknowledged the department, under his command, likely unlawfully stopped, searched, detained, and arrested people during street enforcement activities. He said he believes LMPD, in certain cases and individual circumstances, likely discriminated against Black people.

When Conrad was asked about LMPD engaging in acts that derived people of their rights, Conrad said, “I don't know that, but it's, again, in the report and I don't think the Department of Justice would've included it if they did not have sufficient evidence to make that statement.”

Gazaway was identified by witnesses as the gunman after an encounter with officers. Police said Gazaway pointed a gun at two officers and fired several shots. Gazaway was shot and killed. 

But his attorney says body camera video does not show Gazaway becoming aggressive with police before they shot him in the back, as he walks out of Kroger.

The officers involved did not face charges after Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine said the officers “were justified in using deadly force.”

WDRB News obtained a transcript of the Conrad deposition on Thursday. 

The DOJ report accused LMPD of throwing drinks at pedestrians, racial disparities in arrests and traffic stops, assaulting citizens with disabilities and calling Black people "monkeys, animal and boy." The report also said LMPD does not properly investigate crimes involving domestic abuse or sexual misconduct; both by citizens and of its own officers.

DOJ investigators singled out Conrad, who served as police chief in the Fischer administration, for failing in "multiple cases" to launch investigations into possible officer misconduct — even though citizens already had complained.

Instead, the report said, Conrad waited until those cases received media scrutiny to initiate internal reviews.

Fischer fired Conrad after learning that officers weren't using body cameras during the fatal shooting of business owner David McAtee during the 2020 protests that erupted over Breonna Taylor's death days earlier.

Federal investigators also criticized the former chief for failing to analyze the work of the Ninth Mobile Division, which was focused on high-crime neighborhoods, for "signs of discrimination."

An attorney representing Gazaway asked a final question regarding the DOJ LMPD investigation, “Would you defer to the report for their findings and for the specific instances of conduct that they found?”

Conrad responded, “Yes, sir."

Simms says, "I was surprised by Conrad's answers. He was being truthful about the DOJ report.. ..essentially he indicated that the Department of Justice is reliable and the information in this report is reliable. I did not necessarily expect him to come forward and do that and to adopt the DOJ findings and specific incidents in the report, so that was surprising."

He says, "It shows that leadership at LMPD knew these things and instead of doing the right things, did exactly the wrong thing and fostered the environment where violating people's constitutional rights was acceptable."

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