Louisville announces new interim police chief amid racial justice protests

The Louisville, Ky., mayor’s office announced the appointment of a new interim police chief Monday after more than 100 days of protest following the March police shooting of Breonna Taylor. 

Yvette Gentry, a former Louisville Metro Police deputy chief, will be stepping into the role next month. Gentry will be the first woman and third African American to serve as chief of the city’s police department. 

Gentry said in her address at a Monday press conference that she is ready to “move the needle forward” and restore the faith of Black residents in Louisville. 

“I will just say: That is just a glimpse of how a lot of people have been feeling for a long time, and we can’t go back,” Gentry said of the ongoing protests in Louisville.

“I think our city is at a point of reckoning that only truth can bring us out of.”

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The leadership change comes after racial justice demonstrators clashed with armed counter-protesters outside the Kentucky Derby Saturday. 

Protesters have continued to take to the streets since Taylor’s death, calling for investigations and changes to the city’s police practices.

Taylor, a 26-year-old Black emergency medical technician, was shot and killed as officers attempted to carry out a signed, no-knock search warrant at her Louisville apartment. 

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron was made a special prosecutor earlier this year in the case of Taylor and has been leading an investigation into her death.