Less than a week after the death of George Floyd in May 2020, demonstrators gathered in Louisville, Ky., over the death of Breonna Taylor. This week, former police officer Cory P. Evans was sentenced for hitting one of those demonstrators with a riot baton.
Both Floyd and Taylor were Black Americans who died at the hands of police officers. Taylor – a 26-year-old medical worker who was shot and killed during a botched no-knock-warrant Louisville police raid – died months before Floyd. However, video of white former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the 46-year-old’s neck for minutes kicked off a summer of protests against police brutality around the globe.
Chauvin pleaded guilty to killing Floyd. This Wednesday, jury selection for the trial of an ex-police officer involved in the raid that killed Breonna Taylor was delayed due to inclement weather. Evans was not involved in that raid.
The 34-year-old was employed as a Louisville Metro Police Department officer previously pleaded guilty to violating the Constitution and using unreasonable force during the May 31, 2020 Louisville protest held in Taylor’s honor. He was working at the event as a member of the department’s Special Response Team, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Evans hit a kneeling protestor on the back of the head with a riot baton, the department said.
“He followed a group of individuals around downtown Louisville to execute arrests for unlawful assembly and violations of curfew,” according to a DOJ statement. “At an intersection, a person in the group surrendered for arrest by getting on his knees and placing his hands in the air. While that person was kneeling in this position, Evans struck him in the back of the head with a riot stick, which created a wound on the back of the kneeling victim’s head. The victim fell forward and was taken into custody by other LMPD officers.”
After the incident, Louisville police served Evans with pre-termination papers in June on a charge of deprivation of rights under color of law, said NBC News.
He was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings of the Western District of Kentucky to two years in prison and two years of supervised release.
“Former officer Evans abused his authority by violently retaliating against a surrendering arrestee who had been exercising his First Amendment rights during a demonstration in Louisville, during the racial justice demonstrations in the spring of 2020,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable officers who violate their oath and the Constitution.”
Evans’ attorney, Brian Butler, said in a statement Wednesday that his client’s actions during the 2020 protest must be looked at in context, NBC News reported.
“Cory Evans is a combat veteran who served his nation in the War in Afghanistan. It is well documented that he saved at least four lives as a Louisville Police Officer. He took full responsibility for his split-second reaction,” Butler said.
Butler said in his statement Louisville riot officers were shot at, had Molotov cocktails thrown at them and were pummeled with rocks, bricks, bottles of urine and bottles of rancid milk during the 2020 protests.
According to 37 pages of personnel history released after Evans’ indictment that were referenced by NBC News, Evans was promoted to officer in March 2015 and commended for bravery. Days before the May 31 protest, he also received a commendation letter from the police chief for loading a wounded shooting victim into an armored vehicle. Earlier that year, he was lauded for helping to a keep a woman calm after she jumped from a rail yard bridge into water.
Records also show that Evans had been investigated for violating department policy and procedures. In September 2015, he failed to activate video in an incident in which he fatally shot a pit bull. In December 2018, he was investigated over allegations of excessive force but ultimately exonerated.
The following year, he crashed into another vehicle during a pursuit.
“Cory will be forever disappointed that the Government that he served in combat rejected his request to have his case referred to Veteran’s Court and the Government sought a draconian sentence,” said Butler’s statement.
“In order for the public to have full trust and confidence in the law enforcement officers who have sworn to protect them, those officers who choose to abuse their authority must be held accountable,” said Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen of the FBI’s Louisville Field Office. “Today’s sentencing reflects the FBI’s and the Department of Justice’s unwavering commitment to identify, investigate and prosecute law enforcement officials who break the law by violating a person’s Constitutional rights.”
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