Former assistant police chief sent messages urging recruit to shoot black people

Andrew Wolfson and Darcy Costello | The (Louisville) Courier-Journal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A former assistant police chief sent numerous racist messages to a Louisville Metro Police recruit, including one that said if he caught black juveniles smoking marijuana, he should shoot them.

Todd Shaw, who worked in Prospect, Ky., sent the “highly disturbing racist and threatening Facebook messages” to the recruit, according to a letter Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell sent to Prospect Mayor John Evans.

Shaw, who had previously worked 20 years as a Louisville officer, was suspended, then fired, last year from the Prospect force.

O’Connell told Evans that while Shaw and the recruit were discussing a training scenario in which the recruit was to write a paper on "the right thing to do" if he caught three juveniles smoking marijuana, Shaw stated: "F*** the right thing. If black shoot them.”

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Shaw, instructing the recruit how to handle parents of a juvenile caught smoking pot, suggested performing sexual acts on the parents. Then wrote: "Unless daddy is black. Then shoot him."

Shaw also wrote that "ML King was nothing but a raciast (sic) womanizer ... but because someone shot him, I get a day off with pay each year."

Shaw was suspended Sept. 1, the day after O'Connell wrote the letter.

Shaw had fought to keep the messages confidential after WDRB and WAVE requested them under the state Open Records Act, but a judge ruled this week that they had to be made public.

"Mr. Shaw held a distinguished career in law enforcement for nearly 30 years," said Attorney Michael Burns, who represents Shaw. "Throughout his career, he treated all people fairly and respectfully regardless of their race."

Asked if Shaw is a racist, Burns said his client was just "playing."



"His Facebook messages were made privately between colleagues and friends who shared the reality of being police officers in today’s culture where police are demonized and demoralized for doing what is required to keep the community safe," Burns said in an email.



"Actions speak louder than words and Mr. Shaw’s actions during his career speak for themselves. He is not a racist in any sense of the word."

“While it is important to note that all the communications either sent or received by Shaw were sent privately, the city finds the content of the messages to be abhorrent, disgusting and reprehensible," Evans, the Prospect mayor, said.

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LMPD Chief Steve Conrad said in a statement that he was "disgusted by the shocking and appalling" comments. "Any person who holds these thoughts has no business ever donning a uniform and representing those who have sworn to serve every member of every community. These actions spit in the face of the determined effort hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers put forth to build trust and legitimacy in the communities they serve."

O’Connell told Evans that prosecutors found the Facebook messages while reviewing whether Shaw should be prosecuted for allegedly interfering in the sexual abuse investigation of the Metro Police Explorer Program.

O’Connell said Shaw sent the private Facebook messages in September and October 2016.

The county attorney's office said it would move to dismiss two dozen District Court cases in which Shaw was the sole witness, regardless of whether the defendants were black.

O'Connell told reporters Friday that Shaw was terminated and that the recruit — who was not identified — wasn't hired by Louisville Metro.

Follow Andrew Wolfson and Darcy Costello on Twitter: @adwolfson and @dctello