Say her name, "Brionna Taylor."
The sounds of 2020 are not over. In fact, some of the same names synonymous with the 2020 riots and protests in Lousiville, Kentucky, are hitting the pavement once again to call attention to what they say was a racist attack by members of the Lousiville police department that ended with bullets flying and the death of Breonna Taylor in the early hours of March 13, 2020, when at least seven police officers forced entry into the apartment as part of an investigation into drug dealing operations.
Taylor, 26, was killed in her apartment in Louisville by plainclothes police who were executing a "no-knock" search warrant.
Officers executed the warrant at the apartment just after midnight while she was with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. Walker fired at the officers through the front door after he later stated that he feared that someone was breaking into their home.
Officers returned fire, striking and injuring Walker, but Taylor was shot numerous times and died from her wounds.
After an extensive investigation, the Louisville District attorney declined to press charges against most of the officers involved. Former Louisville detective Brett Hankison was the only officer to face a charge over the case. He was the only one of the four indicted who was present at the scene of Taylor's shooting.
Hankison, who fired 10 shots during the raid, was acquitted by a jury of endangering Taylor's neighbors when some of the bullets he fired entered their home.
Taylor's death happened prior to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota during his arrest and for which four officers were convicted in his death and later the four officers were charged federally with abusing their positions as police officers, depriving Floyd of his constitutional rights to be "free from the use of unreasonable force", and failing to give medical aid.
Floyd's death sparked outrage across the country with violent riots, looting, and prolonged protests taking place. Protestors in Louiville, who had been occupying a park near the courthouse in downtown Louiville since her death, soon found their cause quickly tied to that of Floyds.
Despite the lack of convictions in Taylor's case, the Taylor family settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $12 million dollars. That settlement is the largest sum paid by Louisville for a case that involved police misconduct.
When the dust settled in Louisville, protestors and community leaders felt that not enough was done in the case, and they appealed to the Department of Justice to take a look at the case.
The DOJ took up the investigation and in August of 2022, they shocked the country when they announced that a federal grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, returned two indictments and that the Department of Justice filed a third charging document today, in connection with an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old woman who was shot and killed in her Louisville home on March 13, 2020, by police officers executing a search warrant.
“The Justice Department has charged four current and former Louisville Metro Police Department officers with federal crimes related to Breonna Taylor’s death,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Among other things, the federal charges announced today allege that members of LMPD’s Place-Based Investigations Unit falsified the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant of Ms. Taylor’s home, that this act violated federal civil rights laws, and that those violations resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death. Breonna Taylor should be alive today. The Justice Department is committed to defending and protecting the civil rights of every person in this country. That was this Department’s founding purpose, and it remains our urgent mission.”
The first indictment charges former Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) Detective Joshua Jaynes, 40, and current LMPD Sergeant Kyle Meany, 35, with federal civil rights and obstruction offenses for their roles in preparing and approving a false search warrant affidavit that resulted in Taylor’s death. The second indictment charges former LMPD Detective Brett Hankison, 46, with civil rights offenses for firing his service weapon into Taylor’s apartment through a covered window and covered glass door. The third charging document — an information filed by the Department of Justice — charges LMPD Detective Kelly Goodlett with conspiring with Jaynes to falsify the search warrant for Taylor’s home and to cover up their actions afterward.
The first indictment — charging Jaynes and Meany in connection with the allegedly false warrant — contains four counts. Count One charges that Jaynes and Meany, while acting in their official capacities as officers, willfully deprived Taylor of her constitutional rights by drafting and approving a false affidavit to obtain a search warrant for Taylor’s home. The indictment alleges that Jaynes and Meany knew that the affidavit contained false and misleading statements, omitted material facts, relied on stale information, and was not supported by probable cause. The indictment also alleges that Jaynes and Meany knew that the execution of the search warrant would be carried out by armed LMPD officers, and could create a dangerous situation both for those officers and for anyone who happened to be in Taylor’s home. According to the charges, the officers tasked with executing the warrant were not involved in drafting the warrant affidavit and were not aware that it was false. This count alleges that the offense resulted in Taylor’s death.
Count Two charges Jaynes with conspiracy, for agreeing with another detective to cover up the false warrant affidavit after Taylor’s death by drafting a false investigative letter and making false statements to criminal investigators. Count Three charges Jaynes with falsifying a report with the intent to impede a criminal investigation into Taylor’s death. Count Four charges Meany with making a false statement to federal investigators.
The second indictment —against Hankison — includes two civil rights charges alleging that Hankison willfully used unconstitutionally excessive force, while acting in his official capacity as an officer, when he fired his service weapon into Taylor’s apartment through a covered window and covered glass door. Count One charges him with depriving Taylor and a person staying with Taylor in her apartment of their constitutional rights by firing shots through a bedroom window that was covered with blinds and a blackout curtain. Count Two charges Hankison with depriving three of Taylor’s neighbors of their constitutional rights by firing shots through a sliding glass door that was covered with blinds and a curtain; the indictment alleges that several of Hankison’s bullets traveled through the wall of Taylor’s home and into the apartment unit occupied by her neighbors. Both counts allege that Hankison used a dangerous weapon and that his conduct involved an attempt to kill.
The information charging Goodlett with conspiracy contains one count. It charges Goodlett with conspiring with Jaynes to falsify the warrant affidavit for Taylor’s home and file a false report to cover up the false affidavit.
Now protestors are launching a new campaign to protest in a small community because one of the officers that were present the night that Taylor was killed, who was not indicted by the state or their federal partners, was recently hired by a sheriff's department in Carrol County.
The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to WHAS11 News on Saturday they hired Myles Cosgrove.
Cosgrove was fired from the department in January 2021 for violating use-of-force procedures and failing to use a body camera during the raid on Taylor's apartment.
He was one of three officers who fired their weapons during the raid; he fired his gun 16 times.
The Kentucky Law Enforcement Board decided to let Cosgrove keep his Peace Officer Certification, allowing him to continue his law enforcement career in other locations.
Riot Heart Media and others are advertising the protest planned on Monday.
Do protestors have a legitimate case? Or should the fact that he was not charged by the state or by federal prosecutors in the case, and he was allowed to keep his peace officer certification prove that due process was followed and he is a free man who should be allowed to pursue career opportunities?
