A former Louisville cop has been federally charged in relation to the death of David “YaYa” McAtee, a Black Louisville restaurant owner who was shot and killed by police in 2020.

According to Wave 3, ex-LMPD officer Katie Crews is accused of depriving the constitutional rights of David’s niece Machelle McAtee, identified in court documents as M.M.

On June 1, 2020; Machelle was standing outside her uncle’s restaurant where a small crowd of people had formed. The gathering occurred after the city’s curfew hours, which were imposed amidst protests over the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor.

In a statement, Crews said she gave Machelle “verbal commands” to go inside the restaurant but she refused, so the cop shot non-lethal pepper balls at her, violating LMPD policy.

“After giving her verbal commands, I did shoot more pepper balls in her direction. She still refused, so I did shoot off more,” she said.

With Crews firing the non-lethal rounds at Machelle, David tried to pull his niece into the restaurant. The pepper ball shots also caused others outside to panic and rush indoors. In response, David fired a gun. LMPD officers and the Kentucky National Guard immediately returned fire and killed him.

Crews is the only officer who has been charged in the shooting and David’s family says the pepper balls she fired led to the series of events that ended in his death.

According to The Courier-Journal, Crews later posted about the incident on Facebook, writing, “I hope the pepper balls that she got lit up with a little later on hurt… Come back and get some more ole girl, I’ll be on the line again tonight.”

Crews was placed on administrative leave after the shooting and then-LMPD Chief Steven Conrad was fired. Crews was ultimately fired from the department this February.

With the federal charges, she faces up to a 10-year prison sentence with three years supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

“My niece, she still has scars to this day that, you know, remind her of that night that are never going to go anywhere,” David’s brother Jamie McAtee told Wave 3. “So, [the charges are] one great thing, but there’s other steps they have to be able to go to also to make it make sense in a way.”