Dozens arrested in third night of protests in Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A third night of protests in Louisville sparked by the police shooting of Breonna Taylor resulted in 37 arrests, a city official said Sunday.

Chief of Public Safety Amy Hess said at a news conference that officials did not yet know the hometowns of those arrested. Hess said a total of 10 people were arrested during protests Thursday and Friday.

Mayor Greg Fischer added that five Louisville police officers were shot at late Saturday night. None were hit, but three officers were in a car that was struck by at least one bullet, he said.

Fischer said cleanup efforts were underway in Louisville. He said a dusk-to-dawn curfew would continue Sunday night for a second straight night in Kentucky’s largest city.

Fischer said the crowds at Saturday’s demonstrations were smaller than the previous two days and “more manageable.” He said the vast majority of protesters were “peaceful and respectful.”

“Let’s take the energy of this moment, channel that into the ongoing work and make the changes we need to make so that the ideas of equality and justice that are written into our Constitution become real, tangible factors in the daily lives of all Americans,” Fischer said.

Louisville’s protests followed the release of a 911 call by shooting victim Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend made March 13, moments after the 26-year-old EMT was shot eight times by narcotics detectives who knocked down her front door. No drugs were found in her home. The death of Taylor, who is black, has captured national headlines alongside the killings of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia in February and George Floyd, the black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes as he pleaded for air.

Protesters carried signs calling for justice for Taylor and Floyd, whose death has touched off protests across the country this week.

Gunfire erupted during earlier Louisville protests on Thursday night, wounding seven people.

During Friday’s protests, a police officer was seen on camera firing what appeared to be pepper balls at a news crew during a live television broadcast.

A crew from WAVE-TV was on air when reporter Kaitlin Rust was heard yelling off-camera: “I’ve been shot! I’ve been shot!” Video shows a police officer aiming directly at the camera crew, as Rust describes the projectiles as “pepper bullets.”

Louisville Police spokeswoman Jesse Halladay apologized for the incident and said the video would be reviewed.