Hankison Fired 10 Bullets
Hankison, 45, had been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing through sliding-glass side doors and a window of Taylor’s apartment during the raid. Multiple bullets passed through the wall of a neighbouring apartment, and prosecutors said Hankison endangered the lives of a pregnant woman, her young child and her boyfriend who lived there.
Hankison’s attorneys never contested the ballistics evidence, but said he fired 10 bullets because he thought his fellow officers were “being executed.”
One of those officers, Sgt. John Mattingly, was hit in the leg by a bullet from a handgun fired by Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who said he thought intruders were breaking in.
“The jury felt like you go out and perform your duty and your brother officer gets shot, you got a right to defend yourself,” Mathews said. “Simple as that.”
Hankison was fired by Louisville Police for shooting blindly during the raid. Asked during the trial if he did anything wrong that night, he said “absolutely not.”
Taylor was killed in the fire returned by Mattingly and fellow officer Myles Cosgrove.
Mattingly and Cosgrove declined to testify during Hankison’s trial, invoking their Fifth Amendment rights because of an ongoing civil rights investigation by the FBI. Hankison’s handgun and other evidence from the scene is being held by FBI investigators, though the gun was loaned to prosecutors to show at the trial.
What To Know About Breonna Taylors Death
Fury over her killing by the police in Louisville, Ky., fueled protests, and questions persist about how the botched raid unfolded.
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By Richard A. Oppel Jr., Derrick Bryson Taylor and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs
The death of Breonna Taylor, a Black medical worker who was shot and killed by Louisville police officers in March 2020 during a botched raid on her apartment, has been one of the main drivers of wide-scale demonstrations that erupted in the spring and summer over policing and racial injustice in the United States.
A grand jury in September indicted a former Louisville detective involved in the raid, Brett Hankison, for wanton endangerment of neighbors whose apartment was hit when he fired without a clear line of sight into the sliding glass patio door and window of Ms. Taylors apartment. He pleaded not guilty. No charges were announced against the other two officers who fired shots, and no one was charged for causing Ms. Taylors death.
Detective Myles Cosgrove, one of the officers who shot Ms. Taylor, and Detective Joshua Jaynes, who prepared the search warrant for the raid, received letters of termination in late December, according to lawyers representing the officers. Detectives Cosgrove and Jaynes were officially fired on Jan. 5, according to The Louisville Courier-Journal. The Justice Department announced on Monday that it would investigate the Louisville police and the local county government.
What Happened To Ms Taylor
Shortly after midnight on Friday 13 March, she was in bed with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, when they heard a banging on the door.
Plainclothes Louisville police officers were carrying out a narcotics raid, and they used a battering ram to enter the property.
A judge had granted a warrant to search Ms Taylor’s home because investigators suspected a convicted drug dealer – her ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover – was using the address to receive packages. She had no criminal record.
Mr Walker, a licensed gun owner, later told police he thought the late-night intruder was Glover, according to the New York Times.
Officials say Mr Walker’s bullet struck a police officer, Jonathan Mattingly, in the leg – an injury for which he later required surgery.
The three officers returned fire, discharging 32 rounds, according to a ballistics report from the FBI.
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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, as black women are often neglected. Mahdawi related this to the #SayHerName campaign and Malcolm X‘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. It has been criticized for trivializing the incident by being akin to the meme “Epstein didn’t kill himself“. In late July 2020, American record producer J. W. Lucas, who is white, made controversial statements on that seemed to justify the shooting of Taylor, which received extremely negative reactions, including from activist Tamika Mallory, with whom he later had a heated exchange on . Rapper Jack Harlow, whose single “Whats Poppin” 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 Vanity Fair featured a painting of Taylor by Amy Sherald on the cover. The issue included an interview with Taylor’s mother by author Ta-Nehisi Coates. In September 2020, George Clooney 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.
What Happened In Louisville
Shortly after midnight on March 13, Louisville police officers executing a search warrant used a battering ram to enter the apartment of Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician.
The police had been investigating two men who they believed were selling drugs out of a house that was far from Ms. Taylors home. But a judge had also signed a warrant allowing the police to search Ms. Taylors residence because the police said they believed that one of the men had used her apartment to receive packages. Ms. Taylor had been dating that man on and off for several years but had recently severed ties with him, according to her familys lawyer.
Ms. Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, had been in bed, but got up when they heard a loud banging at the door. Mr. Walker said he and Ms. Taylor both called out, asking who was at the door. Mr. Walker later told the police he feared it was Ms. Taylors ex-boyfriend trying to break in.
After the police broke the door off its hinges, Mr. Walker fired his gun once, striking Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in a thigh. The police responded by firing several shots, striking Ms. Taylor five times. Mr. Hankison shot 10 rounds blindly into the apartment.
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Autopsy And Death Certificate
An autopsy was conducted on Taylor, and her cause of death was determined to be homicide. The death certificate also notes that she received five gunshot wounds to the body. The coroner denied The Courier-Journal‘s request for a copy of the autopsy. The newspaper was appealing to the attorney general’s office as of July 17, 2020.
The Death Of Breonna Taylor A Black Woman In March 2020 Fueled National Protests Over Police Brutality
- What Happened: Ms. Taylor was shot by police in Louisville, Ky., during a botched drug raid. Here is what to know about her death.
- Victims Profile: The 26-year-old woman hoped to become a nurse. An ex-boyfriends run-ins with the law entangled her as she tried to move on.
- Visual Investigation: A 3-D model of the scene and an analysis of the events show how shoddy police work led to the fatal outcome.
- Her Legacy: After Ms. Taylors killing, protests demanding justice rocked Louisville for months. Black engagement in Kentucky politics soared.
- The Aftermath: A police officer was acquitted of wanton endangerment of her neighbors. No one was charged for causing Ms. Taylors death.
Mr. Walker told investigators that Ms. Taylor coughed and struggled to breathe for at least five minutes after she was shot, according to The Louisville Courier Journal. An ambulance on standby outside the apartment had been told to leave about an hour before the raid, counter to standard practice. As officers called an ambulance back to the scene and struggled to render aid to their colleague, Ms. Taylor was not given any medical attention.
It was not until 12:47 a.m., about five minutes after the shooting, that emergency personnel realized she was seriously wounded, after her boyfriend called 911.
I dont know whats happening, Mr. Walker said on a recorded call to 911. Someone kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend.
No drugs were found in the apartment, a lawyer for Mr. Walker said.
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Former Police Officer Found Not Guilty In Raid That Killed Breonna Taylor
Hankison, 45, was charged in the March 2020 death of Taylor, who was killed during a botched police raid as officers were executing a no-knock warrant.
“Justice was done. The verdict was proper and we are thrilled,” defense attorney Stewart Mathews told CNN.
Hankison was the only police officer who faced charges stemming from the incident.
The former officer was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for the 10 bullets he fired blindly. The bullets did not hit anyone, but some of them traveled into an adjacent apartment with a man, pregnant woman and 5-year-old child inside.
Hankison fired the rounds into Taylor’s apartment through a covered glass door and window.
During the trial, Hankison testified he mistook police gunfire for a suspect shooting at him during the raid that killed Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman.
Hankison was fired in June 2020. Then-interim Louisville Police Chief Robert Schroeder accused Hankison of firing blindly in the apartment. He was released on bail in September 2020.
Hankison had faced between one and five years on the endangerment charges.
Taylor was shot after officers forced their way into her apartment while searching for drugs as part of a larger investigation.
Her death ignited widespread protests across the country.
Breonna Taylor: Officer Was Reckless During Deadly Raid Prosecutors Say
A jury is deciding whether a former detective showed “extreme indifference to human life” during the raid that led to the death of Breonna Taylor.
Brett Hankinson allegedly fired 10 shots blindly into a neighbour’s flat in the melee that followed a “no-knock” search of the black woman’s Kentucky home.
He is now standing trial on three charges of endangerment.
Ms Taylor’s death sparked racial injustice rallies across America.
Officers had forced their way into the 26-year old paramedic’s Louisville home during a narcotics raid using the “no-knock” warrant – which meant they did not have to announce themselves.
Her boyfriend shot and wounded one of the officers. In response, officers fired 32 shots, six of which struck Ms Taylor.
Prosecutors allege that in the raid some of the shots fired by Hankinson entered a neighbouring flat, endangering three people inside: Cody Etherson, his pregnant wife Chelsey Napper and their five-year-old son.
“This is not a case to decide who is responsible for the death of Breonna Taylor,” Kentucky assistant attorney general Barbara Maines Whaley said during her opening remarks on Wednesday, but more whether Hankinson had showed “extreme indifference to human life” during the raid.
But Hankinson’s team sought to portray him as an experienced officer who was facing a confusing situation. Defence attorney Steve Matthews described it as a scene of “total chaos”.
The case, in Jefferson County Circuit Court, is expected to take about two weeks.
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What Did The Prosecutor Say
On Wednesday, Judge Annie O’Connell announced the charges that had been brought by a grand jury against Mr Hankison.
Kentucky Attorney General Mr Cameron then held a news conference in which he expanded on the decision. “This is a gut-wrenching emotional case,” he said.
“There is nothing I can offer them today to take away the grief and heartache as a result of losing a child, a niece, a sister and a friend,” he added in a message to Ms Taylor’s family.
Mr Cameron said a ballistics report had found that six bullets struck Ms Taylor, but only one was fatal.
That analysis concluded that Detective Myles Cosgrove had fired the shot that killed Ms Taylor.
The attorney general said it was not clear if Mr Hankison’s shots had hit Ms Taylor, but they had hit a neighbouring apartment.
The top prosecutor said the other two officers – Jonathan Mattingly and Mr Cosgrove – had been “justified to protect themselves and the justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges”.
Mr Cameron, a Republican who is the state’s first black attorney general, added: “If we simply act on emotion or outrage, there is no justice.
“Mob justice is not justice. Justice sought by violence is not justice. It just becomes revenge.”
He added that the FBI was still investigating potential violations of federal law in the case.
Hankison Was Fired From Louisville Police After Deadly Raid
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Brett Hankison, the only officer hit with criminal charges in connection to the deadly 2020 police shooting of Breonna Taylor, has been found not guilty on all charges in a Kentucky court.
Mr Hankison, 45, was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing blindly into Ms Taylors apartment during a no-knock police raid.
None of the former officers rounds struck Ms Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman and emergency room technician. Instead, the bullets passed through her home into a neighbouring residence occupied by a couple and their five-year-old child.
The jury reached its conclusion after three hours of deliberation on Thursday.
I think it was absolutely the fact that he was doing his job as a police officer, defence attorney Stewart Mathews told CBS News. The jury felt like you go out and perform your duty and your brother officer gets shot, you got a right to defend yourself. Simple as that.
The encounter at issue in the five-day trial began on 13 March 202 when a team of three officers arrived at Taylors apartment to carry out a search in a drug investigation linked to her ex-boyfriend.
The Louisville Metropolitan Police Department has said their officers gave warning before entering the apartment, while Taylors boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he got no response when he asked who was outside.
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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, Attorney General of Kentucky, to determine whether any officer should be criminally charged. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer also asked the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office to review the findings.
On September 23, 2020, a state grand jury indicted Hankison on three counts of wanton endangerment for endangering a neighboring white 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. Neither Hankison nor the two other officers involved in the raid were indicted for Taylor’s death.
One of the anonymous jurors said that the police “covered it up. That’s what the evidence that I saw. And I felt like there should have been lots more charges on them.” On March 3, 2022, jurors acquitted Hankinson on all three counts after deliberating for three hours.
Federal investigation
Politicians And Public Officials
On May 13, 2020, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear 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 and LMPD Chief Steve Conrad announced they had asked the FBI and the United States Attorney to review the local findings of the Public Integrity Unit’s investigation when it is completed.
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Trial Of Officer Charged In Breonna Taylor Case Begins In Kentucky
-The trial of a white former Kentucky police officer charged with wanton endangerment during the 2020 shooting death of Breonna Taylor began on Wednesday, casting a spotlight on another case in the United States that sparked a summer of protests against racial injustice two years ago.
Detective Brett Hankison, 45, whose stray bullets hit a neighboring apartment in the city of Louisville during a botched execution of a search warrant in March 2020, was the only officer charged in the case.
Kentucky Assistant Attorney General Barbara Whaley reminded the jury in her opening argument on Wednesday that the case was not about Taylor. Rather, she said it concerned whether Hankison exhibited “extreme indifference to human life” when firing the bullets that endangered Taylor’s neighbors, shattered their glass patio door, and caused drywall to fall on one of them, Cody Etherton.
Etherton testified on Wednesday that he awoke that March night to a boom, then heard several shots and felt debris falling on him after he left his room.
When his glass patio door shattered, Etherton said he went to check it out, whereupon officers pointed guns at him and told him to put his hands out through the broken glass. “It was just reckless,” he said.
“There’s not going to be any dispute about the evidence,” said Hankison’s attorney, Stew Mathews, in his opening argument. “The issue is, what was the reasoning behind his firing those shots?”