Former LMPD officer charged in shooting of unarmed man pleads not guilty
– 3 min read
Nathan Stotts appeared in court Monday morning for his arraignment hearing.
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The former LMPD officer charged in the fatal shooting of a naked, unarmed man appeared in Jefferson County Circuit Court Monday morning, where he entered a not guilty plea.
Nathan Stotts, who was booked into Metro Corrections, was released after a judge set his bond at $10,000. His attorney, Steve Shroering, said his client intended to post it the same day- and he did.
Shroering is a familiar face in high-profile Louisville-area cases. He most recently represented Brooks Houck at trial last summer in the Crystal Rogers murder case.
Stotts faces one count of second-degree manslaughter and one count of reckless homicide in connection with the May 30 shooting death of 27-year-old Martin Nitzken on Cromarty Way in Southwest Louisville. A Jefferson County grand jury indicted him last week, finding no true bill on the more serious murder charge prosecutors also presented.
What happened on May 30
When officers were called to Cromarty Way that night, it was not a quiet scene. Nitzken's girlfriend had called 911 saying he became suddenly and violently agitated while the group watched a basketball game. He allegedly attacked her, then attacked two of her friends when they tried to intervene.
911 call provided by LMPD
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By the time police arrived, Nitzken had removed all of his clothing, ripped a shutter off a nearby home, and chased a passing car with it. A neighbor who tried to intervene ended up with a dislocated shoulder.
Stotts was the only officer on scene when he arrived. Body camera footage showed Nitzken- naked, stumbling, and unarmed- walking toward him. Stotts gave verbal commands. Nitzken kept moving. Stotts fired once. Nitzken went down.
LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey did not mince words at a news conference shortly after the shooting. "This is not what we teach, and it does not meet our values," he said. When asked what Stotts should have done differently, Humphrey pointed specifically to less-lethal options- a Taser or similar intermediate tool- saying he would have "liked to have seen something besides deadly force being used."
"Sometimes we have to make decisions to take people's lives," Humphrey said. "And this was not one of them."
The woman who called 911 had mentioned that Nitzken was bipolar and had not previously been violent, raising questions about whether the situation should have been recognized and handled as a mental health crisis. Every LMPD officer receives 40 hours of crisis intervention training, including how to identify signs of a mental health episode- things like being unclothed or unresponsive to commands. Humphrey said investigators would be examining why those signs may not have been acted on. A toxicology report was still pending at the time of the press conference.
Pre-termination paperwork was served to Stotts just three days after the shooting. He resigned a few days after that and was officially charged last week.
His next court date is set for July 22 at 10:30 a.m.
Martin Nitzken was naked and unarmed. An LMPD officer shot and killed him anyway.
LMPD Chief of Police Paul Humphrey says Martin Nitzken was showing classic signs of a mental health crisis. Signs his officers are trained to recognize. “I’m Shay McAlister, and this is Shay Informed: an independent, ad-free platform dedicated to honest journalism with compassion and clarity. Are you new
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