LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The family of a teen who was shot by a Louisville Metro Police officer last month has filed a lawsuit against the department and officer.
Officers were investigating reports of a group of teens illegally entering a vacant garage in the Chickasaw neighborhood on Feb. 20.
When the two responding officers arrived, the teens were still inside the garage, so the officers drew their guns awaiting backup.
At some point, the teens escaped and tried to flee, during which, Officer Brendan Kaiser's gun "unintentionally discharged" a single bullet that struck two teens.
Officials say the teens went to two different hospitals in Louisville and had conflicting stories, but denied any involvement in the Chickasaw incident.
Investigators later determined the teenagers were shot at the scene.
Attorney Sam Aguiar is representing one of the teenagers' families. They filed the lawsuit against Kaiser, the man who fired the shot, and the Metro Police Department.
The lawsuit claims Kaiser did not announce himself as police while the teenagers were inside the garage, therefore, the teens could not have known who was outside. It also points out that when the teens tried to open the garage door, he forced it back down.
According to the suit, all the teenagers were unarmed and were not posing a violent threat.
The family's main argument is that the officer's use of deadly force was not justified.
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The lawsuit states that LMPD failed to properly train or supervise Officer Kaiser, which led to him shooting the 16-year-old.
The suit cites an incident in 2018 where Kaiser, then 23 years old with one year on the force, shot and killed an unarmed Black man.
They believe Kaiser did not receive remedial training or counseling following the incident in 2018, and that LMPD exonerated him instead.
This lawsuit follows the Department of Justice's findings in an investigation into LMPD's practices, where they found evidence that the department had a pattern of violating the rights of the community.
WHAS11 reached out to LMPD for comment on the lawsuit, a department spokesperson said they "cannot comment on pending litigation."
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