Officer who fired pepper bullets at reporters nominated for an award

An officer who shot pepper bullets at a TV crew covering anti-racism protests in Louisville, Kentucky, last year was afterwards nominated for an “excellence” award, according to a report.

The officer, Dusten Dean, was seen firing pepper bullets at reporter Kaitlin Rust and cameraman James Dobson in TV footage on May 29.

The WAVE 3 News crew were covering anti-racism protests in the wake of the shooting of a Black woman, Breonna Taylor, by Louisville Metro Police Department officers during a botched drug raid.

Within days of the incident involving the WAVE 3 crew – for which Mr Dean is reportedly under federal investigation for – the officer was nominated for an “Exceptional Merit Award”.

According to the Louisville Courier Journal, the officer and two others were nominated for the excellence award for responding to the anti-racism protests.

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In a nominating letter dated 7 June 2020, Lieutenant Chris Aebersold wrote that the officers "devoted extra time away from their families while operating on very little sleep, and working in high temperatures, so the Special Response Team, the Louisville Metro Police Department and the City of Louisville as a whole could succeed”.

The letter noted that Mr Dean and officers distributed "critical items" to the Special Response Team, who were trying to "stop destructive subjects from causing more damage and destruction in the city”.

According to the Courier Journal, the lieutenant's nominating letter referred to the day of the “events occurred” as 28 May, the day before the incident involving the WAVE 3 Crew.

A spokesperson for the Louisville Metro Police Department told the outlet that Mr Dean was not awarded for “exceptional merit”, and was still on administrative leave.

It follows a report by the Courier Journal last month that Mr Dean was under federal investigation for firing the pepper bullets at the TV crew, with Ms Rust having been interviewed by the FBI in the months after.

Ms Rust told the outlet on Tuesday: "I'm shocked and disheartened to hear he was commended for a job well done after he so publicly failed to protect us."

The Independent has approached the police department for comment.