Comment A Louisville corrections officer was fired this week after a video surfaced showing him mocking city police and the killing of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman who was fatally shot by officers during a botched raid on her apartment in 2020 , officials said. The video appears to parody a Louisville Metro Police Department recruiting ad. Turhan Knight, a Louisville Metro officer since 2018, walks past a line of police vehicles and tells the camera that officers are trying to “repair broken relationships” in the community. “Be a part of a great, great police department. Never mind what happened to Breona Taylor,” says a uniformed Knight, who continues to call Taylor a sexist slur. Former detective pleads guilty to misleading judge in Breonna Taylor case “You want to kill people and get away with it?” He says. “Join the Louisville Metro Police Department and answer the call.” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer (D) said Knight was fired immediately after officials learned of the video. “There is no excuse for his insensitivity. He has brought great shame to Metro Corrections and all of Louisville metro government,” Fisher said in an emailed statement. “My deepest apologies to the family of Breonna Taylor and all of the hard working and ethical employees of metro Louisville government. One person will not tarnish the good work we are trying to do on behalf of our residents.” The Washington Post could not immediately reach Knight for comment Saturday. A Louisville-area LinkedIn account in his name appeared to have been deactivated, and calls to several publicly listed phone numbers associated with it went to disconnected lines. According to the Courier Journal in Louisville, Knight said he planned to leave the corrections department soon and was trying to hire an attorney to represent him. The video was a joke, he told the paper, based on his feelings about how “some officers have handled past situations.” He said he was “deeply remorseful” and had not intended to offend Taylor’s family. Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, disapproved of the clip while widely criticizing local law enforcement. “I think the video is in very poor taste and I feel disgusted that he thought a joke about my daughter’s death was a laughable moment,” Palmer said, according to local news station WDRB. “It continues to show me that LMPD and those who work with them are oblivious to their criminal actions against my daughter and continue to disrespect me and my family.” Daniel Johnson, the head of the union representing Louisville correctional officers, told The Post that the organization will not appeal Knight’s termination — a firing he called “the right decision.” Four police officers involved in the killing of Breona Taylor are facing federal charges Taylor was killed by plainclothes officers serving a drug warrant at her apartment in March 2020. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a warning shot with his legal gun — not realizing, he said, that the people who entered they were policemen. The officers returned fire, killing Taylor in her hallway. Four current and former officers face federal civil rights charges in connection with the shooting, which helped spark months of racial justice protests in Louisville and across the country. Three of them are accused of forging search warrants before and after Taylor’s murder. Another is charged with two counts of deprivation of rights under the law. Last week, former Louisville detective Kelly Goodlett admitted she helped forge the warrant and then filed a false report in Taylor’s death. Her guilty plea to a federal conspiracy charge could have resulted in a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
