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Almost two and a half years after Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black medical employee, was shot and killed throughout a brutal nighttime raid at her dwelling in Louisville, Kentucky, 4 law enforcement officials concerned have been charged by federal officers for his or her function in her loss of life, with two indictments involving “civil rights offenses, illegal conspiracies and use of power and obstruction offenses.” Whereas one of many 4 officers charged, Brett Hankison, had beforehand been tried on the state degree for his involvement within the raid, he was finally acquitted.
“The federal prices introduced as we speak allege that members of the place-based investigations unit falsified the affidavit used to acquire the search warrant of Ms. Taylor’s dwelling, that this act violated federal civil rights legal guidelines, and that these violations resulted in Ms. Taylor’s loss of life,” stated Lawyer Common Merrick Garland throughout a briefing on the U.S. Division of Justice headquarters in Washington, D.C., earlier as we speak.
The indictments don’t title the 2 officers who shot and killed Taylor—neither Jonathan Mattingly no Myles Cosgrove have confronted prices—however the three officers concerned in acquiring the search warrant. (Hankison, in the meantime, has been charged once more for his reckless taking pictures, which endangered Taylor’s neighbors.) Prosecutors acknowledged as we speak that so as to get hold of the warrant, the 2 detectives and police sergeant charged alongside Hankison falsely claimed that Taylor had been receiving packages at her dwelling on behalf of her drug supplier ex-boyfriend.
“In the present day was an enormous step towards justice,” stated Benjamin Crump, the civil rights legal professional who labored with Taylor’s household on their lawsuit in opposition to the Louisville Metro Police Division, finally serving to them to safe a report $12 million settlement and ensures of police reforms. “We’re grateful for the diligence and dedication of the FBI and the DOJ as they investigated what led to Breonna’s homicide and what transpired afterward,” he continued. “We hope this announcement of a responsible plea sends a message to all different concerned officers that it’s time to cease masking up and time to just accept duty for his or her roles in inflicting the loss of life of an harmless, lovely younger Black girl … Say her title. Breonna Taylor.”
