A former Louisville, Kentucky police officer is now facing criminal charges after a grand jury indicted him Monday in connection with the fatal shooting of an unarmed naked man last month.
The grand jury handed down two charges against Nathan A. Stotts — second-degree manslaughter and reckless homicide — stemming from the May 30 shooting death of 27-year-old Martin Nitzken Jr.
According to Louisville police, Stotts was dispatched to a neighborhood following reports that three women had been assaulted. Officers were informed that the suspect had no clothing on and was seen running in the street.
Body camera footage released by the department shows Stotts approaching a nude man seated in the road with his weapon already drawn. The man stands up and begins walking toward the officer. Despite commands to stop, the man keeps moving forward, and Stotts fires a single shot. The video ends with the man falling to his knees and going still.
Nitzken was pronounced dead at the scene.
At a news conference held earlier this month, Police Chief Paul Humphrey described Nitzken as “naked, stumbling and unarmed.”
“Sometimes we have to make decisions to take people’s lives, and this was not one of them,” Humphrey stated, adding that he believed nonlethal force should have been used as the victim moved toward the officer.
Humphrey had indicated he intended to terminate Stotts following the release of the body camera video, but Stotts submitted his resignation first. He had joined the Louisville police force in 2024.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Gerina Whethers announced Monday that while the grand jury did indict Stotts, it stopped short of charging him with murder.
The second-degree manslaughter charge carries a maximum sentence of five to ten years in prison, while the reckless homicide charge carries a maximum of one to five years.
As of Monday, no attorney for Stotts had been identified in court records. Louisville police issued a statement saying they “remain committed to transparency, accountability, and cooperation with all reviewing agencies,” but declined to comment further due to ongoing criminal and internal investigations.
The Louisville police department has been working to rebuild public trust in recent years following the 2020 fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor inside her apartment. Earlier this year, a federal judge agreed to dismiss all charges against two former Louisville officers who were involved in obtaining the warrant used to enter Taylor’s home the night she was killed.
