On the night of January 31, 2021, 20-year-old Eric Steven Kessler of Louisville was shot and killed after deputies with the Bullitt County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a man asleep in a car stopped in the middle of a road. Deputies found Kessler unconscious in the driver’s seat, tried to wake him, then broke the window; that action startled him and he awoke to a chaotic scene with deputies surrounding the vehicle. Kessler attempted to drive away, and his car moved backward into a police cruiser before moving forward. Deputy Nicholas Hibbs fired multiple shots as Kessler drove away, striking him in the back of the head and killing him.

Body camera footage became central to both the criminal review and a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Kessler’s family. The family’s suit alleges the deputies acted recklessly and that Kessler — disoriented and frightened — was not a threat when he was shot; the sheriff’s office initially said Kessler tried to run over a deputy, a claim the family’s attorney said the footage contradicts. The family’s civil suit against the sheriff’s office and deputies involved remains ongoing.