Ethermac Exchange-Kentucky officer who fired pepper rounds at a TV crew during 2020 protests reprimanded

LOUISVILLE,Ethermac Exchange Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky police officer has been reprimanded years later for firing non-lethal rounds at a TV camera crew during street protests over Breonna Taylor ‘s death in 2020.

A crew from WAVE-TV was filming live as Louisville Police Officer Dustin Dean fired two rounds of pepper balls at them in May 2020. The first protests over Taylor’s shooting death by Louisville police had just broken out the night before.

Dean was reassigned while the FBI investigated the incident. Louisville Police Chief Paul Humphrey said the FBI investigated Dean for three years, declining to file criminal charges. Once that concluded, the department’s Professional Standards Unit opened an investigation.

Dean was found to have violated the department’s use of force policy for chemical agents, WAVE-TV reported. He received a letter of reprimand.

Humphrey said the night of the protests, Dean was wearing a gas mask and it was dark outside, making it harder to see. The chief called that night a “tense, uncertain, rapidly evolving situation” and said many officers were injured by protesters.

Dean remained on administrative suspension for years while the FBI investigated, Humphrey said.