Source: APU GOMES / Getty
Jury selection begins in the trial of an ex-cop who participated in the police raid that killed 26-year-old Black woman Breonna Taylor in March 2020.
In September 2020, Brett Hankison was indicted by a grand jury on three counts of felony wanton endangerment for “extreme indifference to human life” after firing into a neighbor’s apartment the night of Taylor’s death.
Although Hankison will stand trial for charges related to the incident involving Taylor, no officer has been indicted on charges directly related to her death. Justice for Breonna Taylor continues to feel out of reach.
On March 13, 2020, the Louisville officers descended upon Taylor’s apartment to execute a search warrant for a suspect who was later determined to have already been in police custody.
Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, heard noises coming from the front door and believed someone was trying to break into the apartment. Walker retrieved his legal gun and fired a single shot in the direction of the door out of self-defense. The bullet unwittingly hit one of the officers, and police responded by blindly firing off a hail of bullets, ultimately killing Taylor who, before the shooting, had been sleeping. Police never recovered any drugs in the home.
Taylor’s death came just weeks after Ahmaud Arbery was gunned down while jogging by three white men who believed he was a neighborhood thief. A few months later, during the summer of 2020, George Floyd was killed by a Minnesota police officer after being arrested for a counterfeit $20 bill. These three deaths would be the catalyst for an entire summer of national outrage and protests. Protestors called for the officers involved in Taylor’s death to be indicted, but charges directly related to her death never came.
Hankison is the only officer facing any charges and if convicted he faces one to five years in prison for each count of wanton endangerment. His trial, which takes place in Louisville is expected to last a few weeks. The juror pool will include residents of Jefferson County. Hankison has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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Trial For Ex-Cop Who Fired Wildly Into Breonna Taylor’s Home Doesn’t Account For Her Death was originally published on newsone.com
