Home WebMail Friday, November 1, 2024, 11:34 AM | Calgary | -4.5°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Posted: 2023-01-21T23:46:52Z | Updated: 2023-01-21T23:46:52Z

Patrons trying to enjoy their dinner at a Kentucky restaurant this week were shocked to find a Republican womens club using the venue to host one of the officers involved in the 2020 police raid that killed Breonna Taylor, according to the local NAACP chapter and two patrons who spoke with news outlets.

At one point, graphic video footage of the raid was allegedly played loudly in the restaurant, where other diners said they could hear it.

You could hear the gunshots in the footage, one diner, 34-year-old Cayce Johnson, told The Washington Post . Our dinner was completely hijacked. We couldnt hear ourselves at that point.

The Bowling Green-Warren County branch of the NAACP said it was outraged and profoundly dismayed over the incident on Tuesday at Annas Greek Restaurant in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The Republican Womens Club of South Central Kentucky was forced to find a new location for its event, featuring former Louisville Police Sgt. John Mattingly, after their original country club venue dropped them, NBC News reported .

Mattingly was one of several officers involved in Taylors killing in March 2020. The officers executed a no-knock warrant at Taylors apartment in Louisville late one night, startling the Black medical technician and her boyfriend, who was armed. He then shot Mattingly in the leg. Officers retaliated with a hail of gunfire toward the pair, killing Taylor.

The man the officers were searching for, an ex-boyfriend of Taylors, was not in the apartment at the time.

Mattingly was allowed to retire over a year later. Since then, he has become a right-wing pundit and critic of the police reform movement .

According to a now-deleted Facebook post from the Republican Womens Club, Mattingly would share what really happened during the raid that killed Breonna Taylor, what he saw, and how the medias narrative has been corrupted and twisted to fit into a false, woke storyline, reported LEX18 , a local NBC News affiliate.

The Greek restaurant, which sits in a former church, was open to the public while the event took place upstairs, according to the local NAACP chapter . Because Mattingly had access to the restaurants speaker system, the group said, the footage of the raid and his commentary could be heard throughout the venue.

Your Support Has Never Been More Critical

Other news outlets have retreated behind paywalls. At HuffPost, we believe journalism should be free for everyone.

Would you help us provide essential information to our readers during this critical time? We can't do it without you.

You've supported HuffPost before, and we'll be honest we could use your help again . We view our mission to provide free, fair news as critically important in this crucial moment, and we can't do it without you.

Whether you give once or many more times, we appreciate your contribution to keeping our journalism free for all.

You've supported HuffPost before, and we'll be honest we could use your help again . We view our mission to provide free, fair news as critically important in this crucial moment, and we can't do it without you.

Whether you give just one more time or sign up again to contribute regularly, we appreciate you playing a part in keeping our journalism free for all.

Support HuffPost

Another patron took to Facebook to express her disgust. She described the Republican event as some kind of loud tribute/rally for Mattingly and said, they were speaking very loudly with a microphone.

After a glowing review of the restaurant Mattingly posted on Facebook attracted criticism , Mattingly began picking fights with the commenters.

Johnson, the diner who later spoke to The Washington Post and The New Republic , filmed a restaurant manager responding to questions about why the event had been permitted. The man can be seen shrugging his shoulders.