Officer Indicted
Former Louisville officer faces manslaughter and reckless homicide charges in fatal shooting of naked man.
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A Jefferson County grand jury indicted former Louisville police officer Nathan A. Stotts on June 15 for fatally shooting a naked, unarmed man on May 30, AP. Stotts, who joined the force in February 2024 and resigned last week, now faces second-degree manslaughter and reckless homicide charges in the death of 27-year-old Martin Nitzken Jr.
Body camera footage showed Stotts fired a single shot roughly 14 seconds after arriving on scene, according to WHAS11. He then waited more than three minutes before rendering aid to Nitzken, who had been experiencing a mental health crisis at the time of the shooting.
A Fatal Encounter With an Unarmed Man in Crisis
Officers were called to the 3000 block of Cromarty Way after a 911 report of a nude man assaulting several people, AP reported. Nitzken's girlfriend told dispatchers he was bipolar and having a mental break. When Stotts arrived, Nitzken was naked and sitting on the side of the road. Nitzken stood and walked toward Stotts. Stotts fired once.
Because Nitzken was naked, he was visibly carrying no weapon. Legal analyst Karl Price said that should have been obvious to any trained officer. "Wanton and reckless conduct," Price called it, according to WHAS11. Interim Police Chief Paul Humphrey agreed, saying bluntly: "Sometimes we have to make decisions to take people's lives, and this was not one of them."
Charges Filed and Stotts Resigned Before He Was Fired
Chief Humphrey released body camera footage on June 2 and immediately began the formal process to fire Stotts, The Independent reported. That termination never finished. Stotts resigned on June 8, one week before the grand jury returned its indictment.
The grand jury charged Stotts with second-degree manslaughter, a Class C felony carrying five to ten years in prison, AP reported. It also added a reckless homicide count, a Class D felony with a maximum of one to five years. Jurors declined to charge him with murder. Commonwealth's Attorney Gerina Whethers confirmed the charges and said the prosecution is ongoing.
LMPD Moved With Unusual Speed After Footage Released
Analysts called the pace of discipline striking. Humphrey initiated firing proceedings within 72 hours of the shooting, according to WHAS11. Attorney Karl Price said it was rare for an officer to face termination so quickly. This was the fourth officer-involved shooting by Louisville police in 2026.
The LMPD has been under a Department of Justice consent decree since the 2020 death of Breonna Taylor. The decree focuses on use-of-force policies and how officers handle people with mental illness. Mayor Craig Greenberg backed the swift response, saying: "Wearing an LMPD badge carries tremendous accountability... and with that responsibility comes accountability," according to The Independent.
Community Demands Mental Health Co-Responders After Shooting
The shooting has renewed calls for Louisville's co-responder program, which would send mental health professionals alongside officers on crisis calls, according to The Winnipeg Free Press. Mayor Greenberg said the city is working on the program but gave no launch date. The Nitzken family has hired legal counsel, and a civil rights lawsuit against the city is expected.
Stotts' defense has not yet released a formal statement since the indictment. His likely legal argument will center on "objective reasonableness" — the idea that a suspect who had allegedly assaulted multiple people and was advancing on an officer posed a threat. Prosecutors counter that a naked man in mental crisis, with no possible weapon, made deadly force impossible to justify, AP reported.
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