It has been over two years since police woke Breonna Taylor and her partner by ramming down their front door, shortly before 1am on March 13, 2020.
Within minutes of them entering her home that night, 26-year-old Breonna was dead.
For two years, activists, protestors and Breonna’s family have called for the police officers involved in the incident – Joshua Jaynes, Kyle Meany, Brett Hankison and Kelly Goodlet – to be arrested.
At the time of her death, Breonna was in a relationship with Kenneth Walker. When police stormed their home, Walker used his registered gun and fired it at the door. He thought intruders were breaking in, as the police’s raid was a “no-knock” encounter, meaning they stormed in full force. Walker later had an attempted murder charge against him dropped after he shot and wounded a police officer’s leg. Walker was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Police shot more than 20 rounds into the home. Kenneth was injured by gunfire, and Breonna was shot eight times by officers before being pronounced dead at the scene.
Neither Breonna nor Kenneth had any criminal background. No drugs were found. The officers involved in the raid were not wearing body cameras.
On May 15 2020, Breonna’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit. Months later, the city of Louisville agreed to pay US$12 million to her family and institute sweeping police reforms in a settlement.
In August 2022, the four police officers involved were charged for their roles in the botched raid that killed Breonna.
The four now face federal charges including civil rights violations for using excessive force to using false information to obtain the search warrant that authorised the botched raid. They have also been charged with allegedly spawning a conspiracy to falsify the warrant and then cover up the falsification.
[ed: shocking that this has taken so long and that they still do not appear to have been charged with murder. This case seems more outrageous than the George Floyd case but has received a fraction of the attention.]
Source: Breonna Taylor: 4 police officers have been charged.