Feds charge Louisville police officer accused of striking kneeling protester with riot baton
A Louisville police officer violated federal law when he hit a kneeling demonstrator in the back of the head with a riot baton during a Breonna Taylor protest, prosecutors said.
Cory P. Evans, an officer with the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, was indicted Wednesday on a charge of deprivation of rights under color of law for his actions on May 31, 2020, according to court papers filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court’s Western District of Kentucky.
“Cory P. Evans, while acting under color of law, willfully deprived arrestee M.C. of the right, secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to be free of an unreasonable seizure, which includes the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer,” court documents said.
The court added that Evans “struck M.C. in the back of the head with a riot stick while M.C. was kneeling with hands in the air, surrendering for arrest. The offense resulted in bodily injury to M.C."
