Former Atlanta Police Chief Named Louisville’s Top Cop

ATLANTA, GA — Former Atlanta police Chief Erika Shields will become the Louisville Metro Police Department’s new chief, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced in a news conference Wednesday.

Shields resigned from her position in Atlanta unexpectedly in June following the release of a video of the shooting of Rayshard Brooks outside an Atlanta Wendy’s restaurant. She was involved with the Atlanta Police Department for more than two decades.

Brooks, a Black man, was shot after police were called to a restaurant at 125 University Ave. for a complaint of a man sleeping in a vehicle parked in the drive-thru, Patch previously reported. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, officers attempted to arrest Brooks after he allegedly failed a field sobriety test.

Surveillance video showed Brooks grabbed an officer's Taser, ran a few feet away and then pointed it at officers before they fired gunshots at around 10:30 p.m. on Friday, June 12.

In the wake of Brooks' death, protestors closed down I-75 in Atlanta on Saturday, June 13, and burned down the Wendy's restaurant where the shooting occurred.

“Erika Shields is an experienced, progressive, reform-minded leader, a well-respected visionary both locally and nationally for her ability to build strong and legitimate community and police relations; and strategize, execute and produce results,” Fischer said. “She believes in the rules of policing but also knows when to revise them. She is skilled but open to new ideas, tough and undaunted by challenge. She is a leader, as the public called for, who not only understands but embraces the co-production of public safety, with accountability, transparency, honesty, integrity and compassion.”

Shields will take over the LMPD while the department is under investigation by the FBI for the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black emergency room technician, inside her home in March 2020. Taylor was shot six times and killed after three white LMPD officers — former Detective Brett Hankison, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and former Detective Myles Cosgrove — entered her home using a no-knock warrant as part of a narcotics investigation.

The Courier-Journal reported Jan. 6 that Cosgrove, who the FBI concluded fired the fatal shot that killed Taylor, and Joshua Jaynes — the officer who secured the search warrant for Taylor’s apartment — were fired Jan. 5.

Cosgrove violated procedures for use of force and failing to use a body camera during the March 13 search warrant, and Jaynes was found in violation of department policy for truthfulness and search warrant preparation, the Courier-Journal reports. Mattingly was exonerated for use of deadly force and de-escalation violations.

“I am honored to be selected for this important position at this important time,” Shields said. “I recognize that there is a lot of healing that needs to happen in policing in general, and that LMPD is at a crossroads. But I think there is also an opportunity to get this right here in Louisville, and to create a model for other cities to follow.”

Shields will be sworn in as the Louisville chief on Jan. 19.