Kentucky officer reprimanded for firing non-lethal rounds in 2020 protests under investigation again

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky police officer reprimanded years later for firing chemical agents at a TV news crew during Louisville street protests in 2020 is under investigation for firing other non-lethal rounds on the same night.

Louisville Police Officer Dustin Dean received a written reprimand last week for violating the department’s use of force policy for chemical agents. He fired non-lethal pepper rounds at a TV crew from WAVE-TV that was covering an intense night of street protests prompted by the death of Breonna Taylor in 2020.

On Tuesday, The Courier Journal reported that after reviewing body camera footage from a lawsuit, it asked Louisville Police about Dean firing more non-lethal rounds at protesters in the same night.

Louisville Police said in a statement Tuesday that it had only reviewed Dean's encounter with the TV crew.

“Incidents that were not part of the initial investigation, and unrelated to the interaction with the (TV crew), were just recently brought to the attention of Chief (Paul) Humphrey,” the statement said. Louisville Police said they were “initiating an investigation into those incidents,” without providing details on the actions that drew the new probe.

The newspaper reported that it reviewed body camera footage from the night of May 29, 2020, showing Dean using a 40 mm non-lethal projectile launcher to hit a man who was walking away from the protests, and also used that device to fire at protesters holding signs.

The newspaper said the body-cam footage also showed water bottles and other projectiles being thrown at officers by protesters that night.

The FBI was the first to investigate the incident with the Louisville TV crew, and after three years, cleared Dean of any criminal wrongdoing. Dean was on administrative desk duty and stripped of police powers during the yearslong investigation, Humphrey said last week.