Diners at a Kentucky restaurant were caught off guard when a GOP group aired body camera footage of the 2020 fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.
According to NBC News, the Republican Women’s Club of South Central Kentucky were holding an event on the balcony of Anna’s Greek Restaurant on Tuesday (January 17), when patrons unaffiliated with group were subjected listening and hearing the moment when Taylor was shot and killed in her Louisville apartment.
Reports say the Republican Women’s Club was forced to find a new venue for its event featuring John Mattingly, a former Louisville police officer who raided Taylor’s home in 2020, after the Bowling Green Club said it would no longer host the event. Gubernatorial candidate Ryan Quarles also backed out of the event due to controversy surrounding Mattingly’s attendance, per Spectrum News.
At their new venue, lights went dark as diners at the Greek restaurant were forced to see and listen to the graphic events leading to Taylor’s death. Audio was played through a speaker system in the restaurant so loud that “we were no longer able to even hear people at our table and barely could see our food,” one patron said.
Ahead of the event, the Republican Women’s club said Mattingly was invited to the event to give “a firsthand account” of the raid that led to Taylor’s death.
“These events may be controversial, however, we believe Sgt. Mattingly has the right to share his experience,” the group said in a statement earlier this week. “Other individuals with firsthand experience relating to this case are welcome to request an opportunity to speak to our organization as well.”
According to NBC News, Stacy Webb, the president of the women’s club, hasn’t responded to a request for comment, and the group’s Facebook page has been deleted.
“It is beyond reprehensible to subject anyone, let alone children and customers of African American descent, to such indecent exposure, graphic and upsetting images while they were attempting to enjoy their meal,” Ryan Dearbone, president of the Bowling Green-Warren County NAACP chapter, said in a statement Thursday (January 19). “Such disturbing occurrences must not be tolerated especially in places of public accommodation. At a minimum, these acts are devoid of humanity and violate the most fundamental principles of human decency.”
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