4 Kentucky police officers face federal charges in Breonna Taylor killing
The U.S. Justice Division has charged 4 Kentucky law enforcement officials concerned within the lethal raid that killed Breonna Taylor with civil rights violations.
Federal costs in opposition to former officers Joshua Jaynes, Brett Hankison and Kelly Goodlett, together with Sgt. Kyle Meany have been introduced by U.S. Lawyer Common Merrick Garland on Thursday.
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black medical employee, was shot to dying on March 13, 2020, by Louisville, Ky., officers who had knocked down her door whereas executing a search warrant. Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot that hit one of many officers as they got here by the door and so they returned hearth, putting Taylor a number of instances.
Garland stated federal officers “share however can’t absolutely think about the grief” felt by Taylor’s household.
“Breonna Taylor ought to be alive in the present day,” he stated.
Federal costs allege that the affidavit utilized in securing the residence for Taylor’s residence have been falsified. The officers who carried out the raid weren’t concerned in that affidavit course of, Garland stated, and have been unaware of the alleged falsification.
Garland alleged that in Might 2020, Jaynes and Goodlett “met in a storage, the place they agreed to inform investigators a false story” in regards to the lethal raid.
Meany can be accused of mendacity to the FBI in an interview concerning the incident.
Police division probe ongoing
Hankison, who was dismissed from the division in 2020, was one of many officers at Taylor’s door and considered one of three who fired pictures that evening.
He’s accused by the Justice Division of utilizing “constitutionally extreme power” within the raid, which included firing his weapon by a window with drawn blinds.
Present and Former Louisville, Kentucky Police Officers Charged with Federal Crimes Associated to Loss of life of Breonna Taylor<br><br>Expenses Embody Federal Civil Rights Offenses, Illegal Conspiracies, Obstruction Offenses, and Use of Extreme Drive<a href=”https://t.co/95WARfwja9″>https://t.co/95WARfwja9</a>
—@CivilRights
A jury acquitted him of state costs of wanton endangerment earlier this 12 months in Louisville.
Jaynes had utilized for the warrant to look Taylor’s home.
He was fired in January 2021 by former Louisville Police interim chief Yvette Gentry for violating division requirements within the preparation of a search warrant execution and for being “untruthful” within the Taylor warrant.
Justice Division officers stated Thursday {that a} broader investigation into whether or not the Louisville Police Division engages in a so-called “sample or observe” of violations of regulation is ongoing.
