Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American woman, was fatally shot in her
Louisville
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.
...
,
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
apartment on March 13, 2020, when at least seven police officers forced entry into the apartment as part of an investigation into drug dealing operations.
Three
Louisville Metro Police Department
The Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) began operations on January 6, 2003, as part of the creation of the consolidated city-county government in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It was formed by the merger of the Jefferson County Pol ...
(LMPD) officers—Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove—were involved in the shooting. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was inside the apartment with her when the
plainclothes officers knocked on the door and then forced entry.
The officers said that they announced themselves as police before forcing entry, but Walker said he did not hear any announcement, thought the officers were intruders, and fired a
warning shot
In military and police contexts, a warning shot is an intentionally harmless artillery shot or gunshot with intent to enact direct compliance and order to a hostile perpetrator or enemy forces. It is recognized as signalling intended confronta ...
at them.
The shot hit Mattingly in the leg, and the officers fired 32 shots in return.
Walker was unhurt but Taylor, who was behind Walker, was hit by six bullets and died. During the incident, Hankison moved to the side of the apartment and shot 10 bullets through a covered window and glass door. According to police, Taylor's home was never searched.
Walker was charged with assault and attempted murder of a police officer, but the charges were dismissed with prejudice
Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...
12 months later. On June 23, 2020, the LMPD fired Hankison for blindly firing through the covered patio door and window of Taylor's apartment. On September 15, the city of Louisville agreed to pay Taylor's family $12 million and reform police practices. On September 23, a state grand jury
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
indicted Hankison on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment for endangering Taylor's neighbors with his shots. Cosgrove was determined to have fired the fatal shot that killed Taylor. On October 2, 2020, recordings from the grand jury investigation into the shooting were released. Two of the jurors released a statement saying that the grand jury was not presented with homicide charges against the officers. Several jurors have also accused Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron Daniel, Dan or Danny Cameron may refer to:
Politicians
*Daniel Alexander Cameron (1870–1937), Canadian politician from the province of Nova Scotia
*Daniel R. Cameron (1885–1933), lumber merchant and political figure in Nova Scotia, Canada
*Dan ...
and the police of covering up what happened.
The killing of Taylor by white police officers, and the initial lack of charges for her death, led to numerous protests
A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one.
Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...
that added to those across the United States against police brutality and racism. When a grand jury did not indict the officers for her death, further civil unrest
Civil disorder, also known as civil disturbance, civil unrest, or social unrest is a situation arising from a mass act of civil disobedience (such as a demonstration, riot, strike, or unlawful assembly) in which law enforcement has difficulty m ...
ensued.
On August 4, 2022, Hankison and three other officers were federally charged with violating Taylor's civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
, unlawful conspiracy, obstruction
Obstruction may refer to:
Places
* Obstruction Island, in Washington state
* Obstruction Islands, east of New Guinea
Medicine
* Obstructive jaundice
* Obstructive sleep apnea
* Airway obstruction, a respiratory problem
** Recurrent airway o ...
, and unconstitutional use of force. One of the four officers, Kelly Goodlett, later pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy, marking the first convictions in the case.
People involved
*Breonna Taylor worked for University of Louisville Health as a full-time emergency room
An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...
technician and was a former emergency medical technician
An emergency medical technician (EMT), also known as an ambulance technician, is a health professional that provides emergency medical services. EMTs are most commonly found working in ambulances. In English-speaking countries, paramedics are ...
. Her funeral was on March 21, 2020.
*Kenneth Walker was Taylor's boyfriend, who was present with her in the apartment at the time and fired the shot at what he thought were intruders.
*Jonathan Mattingly is a retired LMPD police officer who joined the department in 2000, became a sergeant in 2009, and joined the narcotics division in 2016.[
*Brett Hankison is a former LMPD ]detective
A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...
. Hankison joined the department in 2003. The LMPD fired him on June 23, 2020.
*Myles Cosgrove is an LMPD police officer who was transferred to the department's narcotics division in 2016.
*Kelly Goodlett is a former detective with the LMPD who was involved in writing the search warrant for Taylor's home. Goodlett later pleaded guilty to lying on the warrant and writing a false report to cover it up.[
*Mary Shaw is the Jefferson County Circuit Court judge who authorized the warrant.] In 2022, she lost her reelection bid and announced her retirement.
*Joshua Jaynes is a former detective with the LMPD.[
*Kyle Meany is a sergeant with the LMPD.][Why the Justice Department made a move in the police killing of Breonna Taylor]
'' Vox magazine'', Fabiola Cineas August 5, 2022. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
Background
The LMPD investigation's primary targets were Jamarcus Glover and Adrian Walker (not related to Kenneth Walker), who were suspected of selling controlled substances
A controlled substance is generally a drug or chemical whose manufacture, possession and use is regulated by a government, such as illicitly used drugs or prescription medications that are designated by law. Some treaties, notably the Single C ...
from a drug house
A drug house (also called a trap house or drug den) is a residence used in the illegal drug trade. Drug houses shelter drug users and provide a place for drug dealers to supply them. Drug houses can also be used as laboratories to synthesize ( ...
approximately away. Glover said the police had pressured him to move out of his residence for unspecified reasons. Glover and Taylor had been in an on-off relationship that started in 2016 and lasted until February 2020, when Taylor committed to Kenneth Walker.
In December 2016, Fernandez Bowman was found dead in a car rented by Taylor and used by Glover. He had been shot eight times. Glover had used Taylor's address and phone number for various purposes, including bank statements.
Jamarcus Glover's statements
In a variety of statements, Glover said that Taylor had no involvement in the drug operations, that as a favor she held money from the proceeds for him, and that she handled money for him for other purposes. In different recorded jailhouse conversations Glover said that Taylor had been handling his money and that she was holding $8,000 of it, that he had given Taylor money to pay phone bills, and that he had told his sister that another woman had been keeping the group's money.
In the recorded conversations and in an interview with ''The Courier-Journal
''The Courier-Journal'',
also known as the
''Louisville Courier Journal''
(and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''),
is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Ne ...
'' of Louisville, Glover repeatedly said that Taylor was not involved in any drug operations and that police had "no business" looking for him at her residence, and denied that he had said in the recorded conversations that he kept money at her residence. Taylor was never a co-defendant in Glover's case.
Incident
Warrant
LMPD obtained a "no-knock" search warrant for Taylor's apartment at 3003 Springfield Drive in Louisville. The search warrant included Taylor's residence because it was suspected that Glover received packages containing drugs there, might have been "keeping narcotics and/or proceeds from the sale of narcotics" there, and because a car registered to Taylor had been seen parked in front of Glover's house several times. Specifically, the warrant alleges that in January 2020, Glover left Taylor's apartment with an unknown package, presumed to contain drugs, and took it to a known drug apartment soon afterward. The warrant states that this event was verified "through a U.S. Postal Inspector". In May 2020, the U.S. postal inspector in Louisville publicly announced that the collaboration with law enforcement had never actually occurred. The postal office said it was actually asked by a different agency to monitor packages going to Taylor's apartment, but after doing so, it concluded, "There's no packages of interest going there." This public revelation put the investigation and especially the warrant into question and resulted in an internal investigation.
The warrant was applied for by LMPD detective Joshua C. Jaynes among a total of five warrants approved the preceding day by Jefferson County Circuit Judge Mary Shaw "within 12 minutes", and which was stamped as filed with the court clerk
A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court, administer oaths to witn ...
's office on April 2. All five warrants contain similar language involving a justification for no-knock entry that concludes with "due to the nature of how these drug traffickers operate". Christopher Slobogin, director of Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
's Criminal Justice Program, said that unless police had a reason to suspect that Taylor's residence had surveillance camera
A closed-circuit television camera can produce images or recordings for surveillance or other private purposes. Cameras can be either video cameras, or digital stills cameras. Walter Bruch was the inventor of the CCTV camera. The main purpose o ...
s "a no-knock warrant would be improper." Brian Gallini, a professor at the University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...
, also expressed skepticism about the warrant, writing that if it was appropriate in this particular search, "then every routine drug transaction would justify grounds for no-knock". In September 2022, WHAS11 news reported that as part of Goodlett's plea deal, she stated that Jaynes sought the warrants from Shaw "because he believed she would not closely scrutinize the warrants".
Jaynes attested in the affidavit that:
But Sergeant Timothy Salyer, supervisor of the Shively, Kentucky
Shively is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city in Jefferson County, Kentucky, Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States, and list of cities in Jefferson County, Kentucky, a suburb of Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville within the Louisvil ...
, police department's Special Investigations Unit, told LMPD internal investigators in May that due to "bad blood" between the United States Postal Inspection Service () and the LMPD, inquiries related to the drug trafficking investigation had been routed through the Shively . In his interview with internal investigators, Jaynes said that before the raid on Taylor's apartment Mattingly told him that the Shively PD had reported that the United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...
had not delivered any suspicious packages to that address. Jaynes was reassigned from his duties with the LMPD in June.
According to ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', before the execution of the no-knock warrant, orders were changed to "knock and announce".
Police entry into the apartment
Shortly after midnight on March 13, 2020, Louisville police dressed in plain clothes knocked on Taylor's door before forcing entry using a battering ram. There is dispute as to whether the officers announced themselves before forcing entry. Walker contends that Taylor asked, "Who is it?" several times after hearing a loud bang at the door. Hearing no answer, he then decided to call his mother instead of the police. After calling his mother he dialed 911 and armed himself. The police officers involved have testified that they announced themselves multiple times before using the battering ram to enter the apartment.
''The New York Times'' interviewed roughly a dozen neighbors and reported that only one of them, who was on the exterior staircase immediately above Taylor's apartment, heard the officers shout "Police!" once and knock at least three times, while the other interviewed neighbors heard no announcement, including one who was outside smoking a cigarette.
According to a statement by Attorney General Cameron, an independent investigation concluded that the no-knock warrant was served as a knock-and-announce warrant, which was corroborated by one independent witness who was near Taylor's apartment. But on September 30, this witness's lawyer said that police announced themselves "only in passing" and implied that the witness was quoted out of context or that video was deceptively spliced. According to VICE News
Vice News (stylized as VICE News) is Vice Media's current affairs channel, producing daily documentary essays and video through its website and YouTube channel. It promotes itself on its coverage of "under-reported stories". Vice News was create ...
, the witness originally said "nobody identified themselves" when interviewed by police a week after the shooting. But when the police called him two months later, he said he heard, "This is the cops."
Shooting and aftermath
Walker said that he and Taylor believed intruders were breaking into the apartment. He initially told police during his arrest that Taylor had opened fire,[ but later reversed his statement, saying that he had "let out one shot at the ground", which he described as a ]warning shot
In military and police contexts, a warning shot is an intentionally harmless artillery shot or gunshot with intent to enact direct compliance and order to a hostile perpetrator or enemy forces. It is recognized as signalling intended confronta ...
in self-defense. According to officials, the shot struck Mattingly in the leg. Mattingly said that Walker "wasn't shooting at the ground" and "was in a stretched out ositionwith two hands, looking straight at me." Walker's legal team asserts that because forensic photography
Forensic photography may refer to the visual documentation of different aspects that can be found at a crime scene. It may include the documentation of the crime scene, or physical evidence that is either found at a crime scene or already proce ...
shows no blood in the part of the apartment where Mattingly said he was shot, because a court-sealed photograph of the single hollow-point bullet
upright=0.2, Cross-section of a hollow-point bullet; proportions are those of a .22 Long Rifle cartridge
Jacketed soft point (JSP) round. Right: Jacketed hollow-point (JHP) round. JSP is a semi-jacketed round as the jacket does not extend to ...
from Walker's firearm shows no blood, and because, based on consultations with pathologists
A list of people notable in the field of pathology.
A
* John Abercrombie, Scottish physician, neuropathologist and philosopher.
* Maude Abbott (1869–1940), Canadian pathologist, one of the earliest women graduated in medicine, expert in co ...
, they believe that a hollow-point bullet would have done "considerably" more damage to Mattingly's thigh, the evidence suggests Mattingly was shot by police officers. A Kentucky State Police ballistics report is inconclusive, saying that "due to limited markings of comparative value", the bullet that hit Mattingly and exited his thigh was neither "identified nor eliminated as having been fired" from Walker's gun. But it was fired from a 9mm pistol like Walker's, whereas all officers were carrying 40-caliber guns.
Police then fired 32 rounds into the apartment during two "flurries" or waves of shots separated by one minute and eight seconds. Mattingly, the only officer who entered the residence, fired six shots. At the same time, Cosgrove fired 16 shots from the doorway area in a matter of seconds. Hankison fired 10 times from outside through a sliding glass door and bedroom window, both of which were covered by blinds or curtains. The officers' shots hit objects in the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway, bathroom, and both bedrooms.
Taylor was struck by five or six bullets in the hallway and pronounced dead at the scene. Cosgrove fired the shot that killed her.[ Walker was uninjured.
According to police grand-jury testimony, the warrant was never executed and Taylor's apartment was not searched for drugs or money after the shooting.] More than a month after the shooting, Glover was offered a plea deal if he would testify that Taylor was part of his drug dealing operations. Prosecutors said that that offer was in a draft of the deal but later removed. Glover rejected the deal.
Two years later, Mattingly said he was sorry Taylor "got shot", adding he "didn't want that".[
On November 19, 2020, Glover's associate Adrian Walker was fatally shot. The Louisville police stated that they had no suspects in the killing.
]
Investigations
Autopsy and death certificate
An autopsy was conducted on Taylor, and her cause of death was determined to be homicide
Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...
. The death certificate also notes that she received five gunshot wound
A gunshot wound (GSW) is a penetrating injury caused by a projectile (e.g. a bullet) from a gun (typically firearm or air gun). Damages may include bleeding, bone fractures, organ damage, wound infection, loss of the ability to move part of th ...
s to the body. The coroner denied ''The Courier-Journal
''The Courier-Journal'',
also known as the
''Louisville Courier Journal''
(and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''),
is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Ne ...
''s request for a copy of the autopsy. The newspaper was appealing to the attorney general's office as of July 17, 2020.
Investigations into the three police officers
The police filed an incident report that claimed that Taylor had no injuries and that no forced entry occurred. The police department said that technical errors led to a nearly entirely blank malformed report.
Local and state investigation
All three officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative reassignment pending the outcome of an investigation by the police department's internal Professional Integrity Unit. On May 20, 2020, the investigation's findings were given to Daniel Cameron Daniel, Dan or Danny Cameron may refer to:
Politicians
*Daniel Alexander Cameron (1870–1937), Canadian politician from the province of Nova Scotia
*Daniel R. Cameron (1885–1933), lumber merchant and political figure in Nova Scotia, Canada
*Dan ...
, Attorney General of Kentucky
The Attorney General of Kentucky is an office created by the Kentucky Constitution. (Ky.Const. § 91). Under Kentucky law, they serve several roles, including the state's chief prosecutor (KRS 15.700), the state's chief law enforcement officer (K ...
, to determine whether any officer should be criminally charged. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer
Gregory Edward Fischer (born January 14, 1958) is an American businessman, entrepreneur and 2nd mayor of Louisville Metro. In 2019, he was elected vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and served as its president in 2020.
Fischer ra ...
also asked the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office to review the findings.
In early June, Fischer called for Officer Hankison to be removed from the Louisville Police Merit Board, which reviews appeals from police officers in departmental disciplinary matters. Hankison was one of five members of the board, which consists of three civilians and two police officers selected by the River City Fraternal Order of Police
The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is a fraternal organization consisting of sworn law enforcement officers in the United States. It reports a membership of over 355,000 members organized in 2,100 local chapters (lodges), state lodges, and the ...
. On June 19, three months after Taylor's killing, Louisville Metro Police interim chief Robert Schroeder sent Hankison a letter notifying him that Schroeder had begun termination proceedings against him. The letter accused Hankison of violating departmental policies on the use of deadly force by "wantonly and blindly" firing into Taylor's apartment without determining whether any person presented "an immediate threat" or whether there were "any innocent persons present". The letter also cited past disciplinary action taken against Hankison by the department, including for reckless conduct. Hankison was formally fired four days later (June 23); he had ten days (until July 3) to appeal his termination to the Louisville Police Merit Board. That appeal was delayed until the termination of the criminal investigation.
On September 23, 2020, a state grand jury
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
indicted Hankison on three counts of wanton endangerment for endangering a neighboring family of three when shots he fired penetrated their apartment. He faced up to five years in prison and a fine for each count.[ Bullets also entered the upstairs apartment of a black family but no charges were filed. An attorney for Taylor's family criticized this decision, stating: "Three counts for the shots into the apartment of the white neighbors, but no counts for the shots into the apartment of the Black neighbors upstairs above Breonna's". Neither Hankison nor the two other officers involved in the raid were indicted for Taylor's death.]
The ''Louisville Courier Journal
The ''Courier Journal'',
also known as the
''Louisville Courier Journal''
(and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), and called ''The Courier-Journal'' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017,
is the highest circulation newspape ...
'' raised questions about whether the grand jury had been allowed to decide whether charges should be pressed against Mattingly and Cosgrove or whether prosecutors decided that the officers acted in self-defense without submitting the issue to the grand jury. Hankison's and Walker's attorneys requested the release of the grand jury transcript and related evidence. On September 28, a grand juror filed a court motion stating that Cameron had mischaracterized the grand-jury proceedings and was "using grand jurors as a shield to deflect accountability and responsibility" for charging decisions. A judge ordered the release of the grand jury proceedings' recording; Cameron's office and Hankison's attorney opposed the ruling. A day later, Cameron said that he did not recommend murder charges to the grand jury, but maintained that he presented "a thorough and complete case". While recordings of testimony and some other parts of the proceedings were released, the juror deliberations and prosecutor recommendations were not released and according to the state attorney general's office were never recorded.
On October 22, a second grand juror criticized Cameron, how the grand jury was operated, and how Cameron presented the grand jury's conclusion. The juror agreed with the first juror's statement, including that members of the grand jury wanted to consider other charges against the officers, including homicide charges. But "the panel was steered away from considering homicide charges and left in the dark about self-defense laws during deliberations." These statements contradict Cameron's claims that the grand jury "agreed" the officers who shot Taylor were justified in returning fire after Taylor's boyfriend shot at them. The first grand juror said the panel "didn't agree that certain actions were justified".
One of the anonymous jurors said that the police it up. That's what the evidence that I saw ed me to conclude
Ed, ed or ED may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Ed'' (film), a 1996 film starring Matt LeBlanc
* Ed (''Fullmetal Alchemist'') or Edward Elric, a character in ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' media
* ''Ed'' (TV series), a TV series that ran fro ...
And I felt like there should have been lots more charges on them." On March 3, 2022, jurors acquitted Hankison on all three counts after deliberating for three hours.
Federal investigation
The FBI began its own independent investigation, announced by its Louisville field office on May 21, 2020. After the state grand jury charges were announced, the FBI stated, "FBI Louisville continues its federal investigation into all aspects of the death of Breonna Taylor. This work will continue beyond the state charges announced today."
On August 4, 2022 the Justice Department unsealed charges against three defendants with falsifying a search warrant affidavit and a fourth with two counts of deprivation of civil rights for shooting through Taylor's window and glass door. As detailed by the United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
, the investigations resulted in two grand jury indictments and one felony information.
Photographic and video evidence
On May 14, 2020, photos were released to the public in ''The Courier-Journal'' by Sam Aguiar, an attorney representing Taylor's family. The photos show bullet damage in her apartment and the apartment next door.
The Louisville police claimed that none of the officers were wearing body cameras, as all three were plainclothes narcotics officers. On September 4, several news sources, including ''The Courier-Journal'', reported that photographs of police officers taken late that day showed that at least one wore a body camera. In the later photographs, one of the officers who fired his weapon, Myles Cosgrove, was wearing a mount for a body camera; another detective who was present wore a body camera, although it is not known whether it was active.
Legal proceedings
Neighbor's lawsuit
On May 20, 2020, the occupants of a neighboring apartment filed a lawsuit against Hankison, Cosgrove, and Mattingly. The occupants were a pregnant woman, her child and a man. The lawsuit alleged that the officers fired blindly into their apartment and nearly hit the man's head, shattered a sliding glass door, and hit objects in three rooms and a hallway.
Kenneth Walker
Walker initially faced criminal charges of first-degree assault and attempted murder of a police officer. The LMPD officers said they announced themselves before entering the home and were immediately met with gunfire from Walker. According to their statement, Walker discharged his firearm first, injuring an officer. Walker's lawyer said Walker thought that someone was entering the residence illegally and that Walker acted only in self-defense. A 9-1-1
, usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Palau, Argentina, Philippines, Jordan, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency nu ...
call later released to the public provided a recording of Walker telling the 911 operator, "somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend".
Walker was later released from jail due to coronavirus concerns, which drew criticism from Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Steve Conrad.
Judge Olu Stevens released Walker from home incarceration on May 22. Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Wine then moved to dismiss all charges against Walker in late May, but that meant that the case could be presented to a grand jury again, once the results of the FBI's and the Kentucky Attorney General's Office's investigations had been reviewed. Wine wanted the charges dropped because the officers had never mentioned Taylor by name to the grand jury, or said that they shot her. Walker's close friends said that his job was to protect Taylor at any cost. On May 26, 2020, Judge Olu Stevens granted Wine's motion to drop all charges against Walker. Rob Eggert, an attorney representing Walker, released a statement saying, "he just wanted to resume his life." At the same time, his attorney said that he could be charged again later as more facts emerge. On June 16, Eggert filed a motion to permanently dismiss the indictment charging Walker with attempted murder and assault. The motion asked Stevens to grant Walker immunity because he was within his rights to defend himself and Taylor under Kentucky's stand-your-ground law. On March 8, 2021, Stevens dismissed the criminal charges against Walker with prejudice, meaning he cannot be recharged for the shooting. The judge denied the motion for immunity, saying it was "moot".
In September 2020, Walker filed a suit against the Louisville Metro Police Department, accusing it of misconduct and asserting he did not fire the bullet that injured Mattingly. His lawyer, Steve Romines, has raised claims that Walker fired only one bullet and that the recovered round had no blood on it, demonstrating that it had not hit anyone.
Taylor's family
On May 15, Taylor's family filed a wrongful death
Wrongful death claim is a claim against a person who can be held liable for a death. The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as enumerated by statute. In wrongful death cases, survivors are compensated for the harm, l ...
lawsuit in Jefferson County Circuit Court on behalf of the estate of Breonna Taylor, against the officers who were present as well as the city of Louisville. It states that Taylor and Walker were sleeping in the bedroom before the incident happened, and that the police officers were in unmarked vehicles. The lawsuit states that Taylor and Walker thought the apartment had been broken into by criminals and that "they were in significant, imminent danger." The lawsuit alleges that "the officers then entered Breonna's home without knocking and without announcing themselves as police officers. The Defendants then proceeded to spray gunfire into the residence with a total disregard for the value of human life."
The lawsuit was resolved in mid-September 2020. The Louisville Metro Government (LMG) agreed to pay Taylor's estate $12 million, "one of the highest settlement amounts ever paid in America for the wrongful death
Wrongful death claim is a claim against a person who can be held liable for a death. The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as enumerated by statute. In wrongful death cases, survivors are compensated for the harm, l ...
of a Black woman by police", according to family attorney Benjamin Crump
Benjamin Lloyd Crump (born October 10, 1969) is an American attorney who specializes in civil rights and catastrophic personal injury cases such as wrongful death lawsuits. His practice has focused on cases such as Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, ...
. The officers and the LMG admitted no liability nor wrongdoing
A wrong (from Old English – 'crooked') is an act that is illegal or immoral. Legal wrongs are usually quite clearly defined in the law of a state and/or jurisdiction. They can be divided into civil wrongs and crimes (or ''criminal offenses'') ...
and were absolved of any medical expenses related to Taylor's death; the settlement also prevents Taylor's family from suing the city. The city agreed to initiate a housing credits program for police officers to live in the Louisville Metro area, considered by some a fundamental community policing
Community policing, or community-oriented policing (COP), is a strategy of policing that focuses on developing relationships with community members. It is a philosophy of full-service policing that is highly personal, where an officer patrols ...
measure, to institute policing changes such as requiring more oversight by top commanders, and to make mandatory safeguards that were only "common practice" before the raid.
Jonathan Mattingly
Mattingly was one of three officers who took part in the raid that killed Taylor, and the officer allegedly wounded by Walker. In October 2020, Mattingly's lawyer announced that he was filing a countersuit against Walker for his injury. He alleged that the gunshot wound caused severe damage and that Mattingly was "entitled to, and should, use the legal process to seek a remedy for the injury that Walker caused." The lawsuit details that Mattingly underwent five hours of surgery because the shot severed his femoral artery
The femoral artery is a large artery in the thigh and the main arterial supply to the thigh and leg. The femoral artery gives off the deep femoral artery or profunda femoris artery and descends along the anteromedial part of the thigh in the fem ...
, and alleges battery, assault and emotional distress. The suit also claims that Walker's response to the officers raid via a no-knock warrant was "outrageous, intolerable and offends all accepted standards of decency or morality".
Department of Justice charges
On August 4, 2022, the United States Department of Justice announced that it had indicted three police officers—Kelly Goodlett, Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany—on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and civil rights violations for conspiring to mislead the judge who approved the search warrant on Kenneth Walker's house. Detective Brett Hankison, one of the officers who participated in the raid, was also charged with civil rights violations. On August 23, Goodlett pleaded guilty to the charges.
Policy and administrative changes
Police department
On May 21, Police Chief Steve Conrad announced his retirement after intense local and national criticism for the department's handling of the case, to be effective June 30. Conrad was fired on June 1 after the fatal shooting of black business owner David McAtee
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
.
The LMPD announced in May that it would require all sworn officers to wear body cameras, and will change how it carries out search warrants. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer
Gregory Edward Fischer (born January 14, 1958) is an American businessman, entrepreneur and 2nd mayor of Louisville Metro. In 2019, he was elected vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and served as its president in 2020.
Fischer ra ...
indefinitely suspended the use of no-knock warrant
In the United States, a no-knock warrant is a warrant issued by a judge that allows law enforcement to enter a property without immediate prior notification of the residents, such as by knocking or ringing a doorbell. In most cases, law enforcemen ...
s on May 29.
On January 5, 2021, the LMPD fired Cosgrove, who shot and killed Taylor, and Jaynes, who obtained the warrant for the raid.
On August 4, 2022, federal officials charged the four current and former police officers who participated in the raid of Taylor's apartment, accusing them of crimes including lying to obtain the warrant to search her home.
Legislative proposals
In June 2020, Democrats in Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
introduced the Justice in Policing Act of 2020
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 was a policing reform bill drafted by Democrats in the United States Congress. The legislation was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on February 24, 2021. The legislation ai ...
, a broad bill containing measures to combat misconduct
Misconduct is wrongful, improper, or unlawful conduct motivated by premeditated or intentional purpose or by obstinate indifference to the consequences of one's acts. It is an act which is forbidden or a failure to do that which is required. Misc ...
, excessive force
Excessive Force is a musical side project started in 1991 by Sascha Konietzko of KMFDM and Buzz McCoy of My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult.
History
In 1991, Excessive Force released the single "Conquer Your House", followed by the album ''Conque ...
, and racial bias
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
in policing. The bill would prohibit the issuance of no-knock warrants in federal drug investigations and provide incentives to states to enact a similar prohibition.
In June, Senator Rand Paul
Randal Howard Paul (born January 7, 1963) is an American physician and politician serving as the junior U.S. senator from Kentucky since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he is a son of former three-time presidential candidate and 12 ...
( R- KY) introduced the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act, which would prohibit federal law enforcement from carrying out a warrant "until after the officer provides notice of his or her authority and purpose". It would also apply to state and local law enforcement that receive funding from the Justice Department.
On June 10, the Louisville city council voted unanimously to ban no-knock search warrants. Called "Breonna's Law", it requires all officers who serve warrants to wear body cameras, and to have them turned on from at least five minutes before the warrant is served until at least five minutes afterward.
Reactions
As the shooting occurred during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Uni ...
, at the beginning of an escalating nationwide wave of quarantines and lockdowns, for weeks after Taylor's death there was very little public reaction, little response from government officials, and the LMPD did not provide many details about the shooting or answers to questions about the case.
Individuals involved
In September 2020, Mattingly sent a personal email to several hundred of his police colleagues wherein he blamed the city's mayor and police chief for failing "all of us in epic proportions for their own gain and to cover their asses", faulted senior staff and the FBI for being unwilling "to hold the line", and urged his colleagues, "Do what you need to do to go home your family." Mattingly gave an interview in October 2020 to ABC News and ''The Louisville Courier Journal'' in which he reiterated his accusations that city officials had not come to his and the other officers' defense in the incident's aftermath. In the interview he highlighted the tragedy of the shooting but claimed that it was unlike the murder of George Floyd
On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's n ...
, saying, "This is not us going, hunting somebody down. This is not kneeling on a neck. It's nothing like that. ..She didn't deserve to die. She didn't do anything to deserve a death sentence." He admitted he "probably said some things" that he "probably shouldn't have said", but said he didn't regret sending the mass email.[
Two years after Taylor's death, a book by Mattingly was released in which he said of Glover, "They had a tracker on his car, ping on his phone, they knew where he was", and that awareness of Glover's location changed the "no-knock warrant" for Taylor's home into a "knock warrant."][Retired LMPD Sergeant John Mattingly asks community for forgiveness, opens up about night Breonna Taylor was killed]
''WHAS-TV
WHAS-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on West Chestnut Street in Downtown Louisville, and its transmitter is located in ru ...
'', Heather Fountaine, March 17, 2022. Retrieved August 7, 2022. He blamed Walker for Taylor's death, saying, "Any man that's worth his salt, if you really thought you were getting broken into, why would outake your girlfriend in the hall with you? Not only that, you leave her hanging, you dive out of the way and she's stuck. And then, after that, you tell police she's the one who shot the police. It just doesn't get any more cowardice icthan that to me."[ "Looking back, would I say, every drug warrant of that time, would I do it differently? I would've done it different knowing what I know now, but it doesn't mean it was wrong or something out of the ordinary because it happens all the time." "Obviously we didn't have that intel. We didn't know Kenneth Walker was there. We were never told her sister and the baby lived there... so there were some failures on that part of it that could've been better."][
In January 2022, ''The Courier-Journal'' reported that Mary Shaw, who was reelected unopposed in 2016, was the only one of 17 incumbent Jefferson County Circuit Court judges to draw an election opponent.] Shaw, garnering 35.1% of the votes cast, advanced to the November election, along with Tracy Evette Davis, with 35.0% of the votes. Davis, a private attorney who provided defense counsel for indicted Breonna Taylor protestors, was endorsed by Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor's mother. In November 2022, Shaw narrowly lost her reelection bid to Davis, and announced she was retiring after 16 years as a judge. Shaw told the ''Courier-Journal,'' "I was disappointed by the results, but not surprised as there are so many false narratives surrounding the signing of the warrant which have circulated."
Politicians and public officials
On May 13, 2020, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear
Andrew Graham Beshear (born November 29, 1977) is an American attorney and politician who has served as the 63rd governor of Kentucky since December 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the son of the 61st governor of Kentucky, Steve B ...
responded to reports about Taylor's death and said the public deserved to know everything about the March raid. He requested that Attorney General Cameron and local and federal prosecutors review the Louisville police's initial investigation "to ensure justice is done at a time when many are concerned that justice is not blind".
On May 14, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer
Gregory Edward Fischer (born January 14, 1958) is an American businessman, entrepreneur and 2nd mayor of Louisville Metro. In 2019, he was elected vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and served as its president in 2020.
Fischer ra ...
and LMPD Chief Steve Conrad announced they had asked the FBI and the United States Attorney
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...
to review the local findings of the Public Integrity Unit's investigation when it is completed.
Protests
For weeks after Taylor's death, her family, members of the community, and protesters around the world requested that officers involved be dehired and criminally charged. Many, including Taylor's family and friends, protested outside Mayor Fisher's office.
Celebrities and public figures
Commentators such as Arwa Mahdawi and Brittney Cooper suggested Taylor's killing would likely not have received so much attention if not for the George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...
, as black women are often neglected. Mahdawi related this to the #SayHerName campaign and Malcolm X
Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Is ...
's statement "The most disrespected person in America is the black woman" and called for further protest until justice for Taylor is secured.
"Arrest the cops that killed Breonna Taylor" has become a common Internet meme
An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
. It has been criticized for trivializing the incident by being akin to the meme "Epstein didn't kill himself
"Epstein didn't kill himself" is a phrase referring to multiple theories surrounding the death of Jeffrey Epstein that dispute the official but contentious ruling of suicide by hanging. Epstein was an American financier and convicted sex offend ...
". In late July 2020, American record producer J. W. Lucas, who is white, made controversial statements on Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that seemed to justify the shooting of Taylor, which received extremely negative reactions, including from activist Tamika Mallory
Tamika Danielle Mallory (born September 4, 1980) is an American activist. She was one of the leading organizers of the 2017 Women's March, for which she and her three other co-chairs were recognized in the ''TIME'' 100 that year. She received t ...
, with whom he later had a heated exchange on Instagram Live
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be ...
. Rapper Jack Harlow
Jackman Thomas Harlow (born March 13, 1998) is an American rapper from Louisville, Kentucky. He started his career in 2015 and released several EPs and mixtapes before he was signed to Don Cannon and DJ Drama's record label Generation Now in 201 ...
, whose single "Whats Poppin
"Whats Poppin" (stylized in all caps) is a song by American rapper Jack Harlow, released as the lead single from his EP ''Sweet Action'', by Generation Now and Atlantic Records on January 21, 2020. It was also included on his debut studio album, ' ...
" Lucas produced, publicly denounced Lucas, saying that he did not know who Lucas was and was not aware of his involvement in the song.
The September 2020 edition of ''O magazine
''O, The Oprah Magazine'', also known simply as ''O'', is an American monthly magazine founded by talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Communications.
Overview
It was first published on April 19, 2000. , its average paid circulation wa ...
'' featured Taylor on the cover instead of the usual image of Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...
as a way to honor "her life and the life of every other black woman whose life has been taken too soon". It was the first issue in the magazine's 20-year history that did not have Winfrey's image on its cover. Until Freedom and ''O magazine'' put up 26 billboards—one for every year of Taylor's life—around Louisville. Winfrey released a video five months after Taylor's death calling for the arrest of the officers involved.
Professional sports teams and individual athletes have honored Taylor and called for the end of racial injustice. Before the 2019–20 NBA season restarted, the Memphis Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...
wore shirts with Taylor's name and "#SayHerName" as they arrived at the arena. At the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mich ...
wore a T-shirt on the podium with the words "Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor." The governing body, the FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backst ...
, considered investigating Hamilton for violating the protocols for political messaging, but decided no investigation was necessary.
The September 2020 edition of '' Vanity Fair'' featured a painting of Taylor by Amy Sherald
Amy Sherald (born August 30, 1973) is an American painter. She works mostly as a portraitist depicting African Americans in everyday settings. Her style is simplified realism, involving staged photographs of her subjects. Since 2012, her work ...
on the cover. The issue included an interview with Taylor's mother by author Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates ( ; born September 30, 1975) is an American author and journalist. He gained a wide readership during his time as national correspondent at ''The Atlantic'', where he wrote about cultural, social, and political issues, parti ...
. In September 2020, George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...
issued a statement in which he said that he was "ashamed" by the decision to charge Hankison with wanton endangerment rather than with Taylor's death.
Vandalism
On December 26, 2020, a ceramic bust of Taylor that was installed near City Hall in downtown Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, was smashed, apparently with a baseball bat. The statue stood on a pedestal bearing the words, "Say Her Name, Breonna Taylor".
Change.org petition
Shortly after Taylor's killing, a petition was started on the public benefit corporation website change.org
Change.org is a worldwide nonprofit petition website, based in California, US, operated by the San Francisco-based company of the same name, which has over 400 million users and offers the public the ability to promote the petitions they care abo ...
asking for "Justice for Breonna Taylor." The petition quickly gathered enough signatures to become one of the site's top three most-signed petitions, among others such as those seeking justice for George Floyd
George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twe ...
and Elijah McClain
Elijah Jovan McClain (February 25, 1996 – August 30, 2019) was a 23-year-old American Black man from Aurora, Colorado, who was killed as a result of being illegally injected with 500 mg of ketamine by paramedics after being forcibly detained ...
.
See also
* Pecan Park raid
* Berwyn Heights, Maryland mayor's residence drug raid
The drug raid at the residence of Cheye Calvo, then-mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, was a controversial action taken by the Prince George's County Sheriff's Office and Police Department on July 29, 2008. The raid was the culmination of an inves ...
* Jose Guerena shooting
* Duncan Lemp shooting
* Killing of Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal
* Shooting of Atatiana Jefferson
Atatiana Koquice Jefferson, a 28-year-old woman, was shot inside her home by a police officer in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, in the early morning of October 12, 2019. Police arrived at her home after a neighbor called a non-emergency number ...
* George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...
* 2020–2021 United States racial unrest
*
Notes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Breonna
2020 controversies in the United States
2020 in Kentucky
2020–2021 United States racial unrest
African-American history in Louisville, Kentucky
African-American-related controversies
Articles containing video clips
Black Lives Matter
African Americans shot dead by law enforcement officers in the United States
Criminal trials that ended in acquittal
Deaths by person in Kentucky
Law enforcement controversies in the United States
March 2020 events in the United States
No-knock warrant
Protests in the United States
Law enforcement in Kentucky