After making an offensive video that makes fun of the police killing of Breonna Taylor, a corrections officer in Louisville, Kentucky, was terminated by the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections last week.
According to The Washington Post, Turhan Knight, a corrections officer for the LMDC since 2018, was fired
from his job due to insensitive remarks made in a video. The incident occurred in front of an LMPD display at the Kentucky State Fair.The video, which he tried to play off as a recruitment video for the Louisville Metro Police Department, mocks the 2020 killing of Taylor by the recently indicted police officers involved in the controversy.
According to WHAS 11, in the video, Knight says,
“Answer the call, be a part of a great, great police department. Never mind what happened to Breonna Taylor, we killed that B**ch. Do you want to be able to support your family, do you want to kill people and get off for it? Join Louisville Metro Police Department.”
In an emailed statement to The Washington Post, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said:
“There is zero excuses for his insensitivity. He has brought great shame upon Metro Corrections and all of the Louisville metro government. I deeply apologize to the family of Breonna Taylor and all of the hard-working and ethical employees of the Louisville metro government. One person will not tarnish the good work we attempt to do on behalf of our residents.”
The head of the corrections officers’ union, president of Kentucky FOP Lodge 77, Daniel Johnson, agreed with the decision made by LMDC. They will not oppose his termination and stated the “termination was absolutely justified and was the right decision.”
Knight also made a statement as he apologized to the Taylor family.
“I want to first apologize to the
Mother, Boyfriend and Family of Breona Taylor because I never meant to compound or further remind them of the tragedy that has taken place. And I also apologize to my family, friends, the community & my church member’s because I knew better and I ask them to forgive me. I understand the severity of my actions and why I am currently in this position and the insensitive comments I made in a joking way should not have been made AT ALL.”The tragic killing occurred
after four Kentucky police officers went into Taylor’s apartment in 2020 on a no-knock warrant as she and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were sleeping. Walker, a licensed gun owner, said that the four plainclothes police officers came unannounced and that he yelled out to the police and, in self-defense, fired a warning shot at them, thinking they were intruders. One police officer was shot in the leg. They responded by firing their weapons and killing Taylor.