A grand jury indicted a former Louisville Metro Police Department officer on charges of manslaughter and reckless homicide Monday morning.
Nathan Stotts shot Martin Nitzken Jr. in late May, when he was unarmed, naked and stumbling toward Stotts. For over three minutes after Nitzken crumpled to the ground, Stotts did not render aid.
Three days after the shooting, LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey started the process to fire Stotts. LMPD said in a statement last Monday that Stotts had resigned.
Nitzken's girlfriend told a 911 dispatcher the night of the shooting that he was bipolar and had not previously shown signs of violence before that night. A neighbor told the dispatcher that Nitzken was "definitely having a mental break."
Stotts was responding after callers said Nitzken had ripped out a chunk of one woman's hair and dislocated a man's shoulder. Stotts found Nitzken lying naked in the middle of a street near the Klondike neighborhood.
The Commonwealth's Attorney for Louisville also brought a murder charge, which the grand jury chose not to indict on.
Stotts will be arraigned next Monday in Jefferson County Circuit Court.
Copyright 2026 LPM News
