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News (Media Awareness Project) - US KY: Officer's File Shows One Rule Violation
Title:US KY: Officer's File Shows One Rule Violation
Published On:2004-01-08
Source:Courier-Journal, The (KY)
Fetched On:2008-08-23 16:56:26
OFFICER'S FILE SHOWS ONE RULE VIOLATION

Policeman In Fatal Shooting Has 9 Commendations

The Louisville Metro Police officer who fatally shot a 19-year-old man
Saturday has been reprimanded once during more than four years on the force
and had not filed any reports showing he used force to make an arrest,
records show.

McKenzie G. Mattingly, who joined the former Jefferson County Police
Department in 1999, before its merger with the Louisville police,
received nine letters of commendation, according to his personnel
file, portions of which were released yesterday.

The records show that Mattingly, 31, received a written reprimand from
then-County Police Chief William Carcara in 2001 after being found to
have violated a rule requiring "respect to public and other members."

The complaint was not released. The man who filed it, Ronald Huff,
said in an interview late last night that when he got out of his car
on Derby Eve 2001 to ask an officer when traffic would be moving
again, Mattingly shouted at him, "I'm gonna throw you in jail if you
don't get off my ---- corner, if you don't get off my ---- block."

Mattingly is under investigation in connection with the death of
Michael Newby, who was shot three times in the back in western
Louisville during an alleged attempted drug buy. Police officials have
said that Mattingly, of David District, was working as an undercover
officer attempting to buy drugs from Newby.

Metro Police Chief Robert White said the two struggled over
Mattingly's weapon and the gun discharged. The chief said Newby then
ran off, and Mattingly fired his weapon four times at the fleeing
suspect. Three of those bullets hit Newby in the back, and he died at
University Hospital. Police have said that a form of cocaine was found
on Newby and that he had a .45-caliber handgun in his waistband.

The department is conducting both criminal and administrative
investigations of the shooting, and the FBI is investigating whether
Newby's civil rights were violated.

Mattingly joined the county department, which merged with the city
force last year, after working from 1996 to 1999 as a Bardstown Police
officer.

Records from that department weren't available yesterday, but
Bardstown City Attorney Tom Donan, who had reviewed Mattingly's file,
said there were no sustained complaints of misconduct against him.
Chief C.D. Marksbury also said he was aware of no complaints that
Mattingly used excessive force.

The records released yesterday also show that Mattingly served as a
helicopter mechanic in the Marine Corps from 1991 to 1996 and received
an honorable discharge.

Mattingly received commendations as a county officer for arresting
three Chicago gang members in a drug bust; for helping find a diabetic
child; for helping find a man wanted in a shooting; and for another
bust in which 8.5 pounds of marijuana, $4,800 in cash and numerous
drug ledgers were recovered.

Newby was the second man, and the first African American, fatally shot
by an officer since the Louisville and Jefferson County departments
merged Jan. 6, 2003. He was the seventh African-American man to be
shot and killed by police in Louisville in the past five years.

Protests planned

Civil-rights groups have begun protesting Newby's killing, demanding
that White change a system they say is wrongfully leading to the
deaths of black men. Mattingly is white.

A minister with the Nation of Islam said yesterday that Louisville's
yearning for the image of an international city took a hit with
Saturday's shooting.

"We cannot be an international city (with) a backward, cowboy police
department," Jerald Muhammad said at a news conference.

Speaking outside the western Louisville liquor store where Newby was
killed, Muhammad said he will expand training for young black men so
they can avoid confrontations with police.

At least four different groups are sponsoring events over the next few
days to protest the killing:

- -Today, there will be a protest at 5 p.m. outside police
headquarters.

- -TomorrowMuhammad and others will speak at a forum at 7 p.m. at the
Louisville Urban League, 16th Street and Broadway.

- -On Saturday at 11 a.m. another forum will be held at Quinn Chapel
AME Church, 1901 Muhammad Ali Blvd.

- -And on Monday at 4 p.m. at The Braden Center, 3208 W. Broadway, a
"strategic planning session" is scheduled.

Staff writer Joe Follick contributed to this story.
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