Justice was lenient, Wednesday, September 23, by pronouncing only an indirect indictment against a police officer involved in the death of Breonna Taylor, in March during a controversial search.
Brett Hankison, one of the three agents who fired in the apartment of the African American, is prosecuted for endangering the lives of others, in this case three neighbors of the victim. This policeman fired ten bullets, several of which ended their course in the apartment next to Breonna Taylor’s, “Putting three persons in serious danger of physical injury or death”, explained State Attorney Daniel Cameron.
According to local media, he went to a local prison and was released after paying bail set at $ 15,000 (12,865 euros), a very low sum compared to other similar cases. Fired by the Louisville police in June, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
No charges were brought against his two colleagues, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, who had been laid off because they fired in self-defense, according to the Kentucky prosecutor.
The investigation concludes in self-defense for two police officers
The 26-year-old nurse was killed in the middle of the night at her home on March 13 when the three police officers showed up with an arrest warrant said “No knock”, which allows them to enter a suspect’s home without announcing themselves.
When they arrived, his companion opened fire with a legally owned weapon. The officers retaliated and Breonna Taylor was shot several times. His companion then explained that he believed in a burglary, the agents not having announced themselves. They claim to have presented themselves before entering, a version corroborated by a witness, according to Daniel Cameron.
As for the two police officers, not charged, who shot Breonna Taylor and her companion, the investigation concluded in self-defense, without succeeding in determining which agent had killed the young woman. “According to Kentucky law, the use of force [par les agents] Mattingly and Cosgrove was justified to protect themselves. This justification prevents us from prosecuting them for the death of Breonna Taylor ”, said the prosecutor.
“My sister, the system you worked so hard for has let you down”, reacted on Instagram Juniyah Palmer, the sister of Breonna Taylor.
The young woman’s family lawyer, Ben Crump, in a statement denounced a decision “Scandalous and insulting” who he thinks is “A new example of lack of responsibility for the genocide of people of color perpetrated by police”. “It is ironic and typical that the only charges in this case relate to shots fired in the apartment of a white neighbor”, while a person of color was killed, he added.
Protesters mobilized in Louisville, after indictment
His death did not attract much attention at first, but it has come back to the fore as part of the major anti-racism protests that have swept the United States since the death of George Floyd, a forty-something. black suffocated by a white policeman in Minneapolis in late May.
Immediately after the indictment of Brett Hankison, demonstrators denounced in Louisville (Kentucky), the police brutality against the black minority. A large police force was in place and several people were arrested in the afternoon. The municipality, which called on the population to be calm, declared a state of emergency and established a curfew at 9 p.m. (3 a.m. Thursday in Paris).
“I know that these charges announced today will not satisfy everyone, admitted Prosecutor Cameron, admitting to having had “A difficult discussion” with the family of Breonna Taylor. I fully understand the suffering that results from the tragic loss of Mme Taylor. I understand him as a prosecutor and as a black man. “
He called those who protest in the streets “To remember that peaceful marches” were their “Right as US citizens”, but that “Provoke violence and destruction” was not. “Seeking justice through violence is not to deliver justice, it is revenge. “
