Police officer indicted in Louisvillian Breonna Taylor's shooting death as protesters flood the streets of the Derby City....The two other involved White cops were not indicted on criminal charges....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio
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The late Breonna Taylor |
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| Louisville Metro police officers Sgt Jonathan Mattingly, detective Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove, Hankison fired by Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert J. Schroeder in connection with the March shooting death of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor |
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief. Coleman trained for 17 years as a reporter with the Call and Post Newspaper and is an investigative and political reporter with a background in legal and scientific reporting. She is also a former 15-year public school biology teacher.
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky-One of the three White Metro-Louisville cops involved in the shooting death in March of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor has been indicted on criminal charges while the other two were deemed justified in their behavior, Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is Black, announced Wednesday as protestors began flooding the streets in the downtown area of the Derby City.
The county grand jury returned an indictment for three felony counts of wanton endangerment against former Louisville detective Brett Hankison, who was fired shortly after the incident.
The other two officers who were with Hankison when he gunned down Taylor at her apartment earlier this year, Sgt, Jonathan Mattingly and officer Myles Cosgrove, remain on administrative leave with pay.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, a Democrat, had called for swift action by the grand jury on whether criminal charges would be brought in the case.
The city, a week and a half ago, settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Taylor's family for $12 million, the largest excessive force settlement of its kind in Louisville's history.
A Mitch McConnell protégé who is married to McConnell's granddaughter and who spoke at the Republican National Convention this past summer, Cameron, 34, who headed the investigation leading up to Hankison's indictment, said that Hankison faces 5 years for each felony count.
"My office is prepared to prove these charges at trial," Cameron said during a press conference on Wednesday. "However, it's important to note he is presumed innocent until proven guilty."
An emergency room technician at the time of her death, police shot and killed Taylor on March 13 in her Louisville apartment after the three cops at issue barged in via a no-knock narcotics warrant.
Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a gun off when police entered the apartment unannounced, and Taylor, in turn, was shot and killed by police.
Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a gun off when police entered the apartment unannounced, and Taylor, in turn, was shot and killed by police.
She was shot eight times.
The union for the police officers remains in their corner.
Oprah had financed 26 billboards across the city calling for the indictments, a billboard for each of the 26-years Taylor was alive before she was erroneously gunned down.
Last month Winfrey stepped off the cover of O, The Oprah Magazine, for the first time in 20 years to feature Taylor on the cover of the latest issue, her picture an edited image that Taylor had of herself before she was killed.
Taylor's shooting death has heightened racial tensions in the Louisville community, the city only 23 percent Black, and Jefferson County, which includes Louisville, just 19 percent Black.
The state of Kentucky, with Louisville its largest city in front of Lexington, has a Black population of a mere eight percent.
Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert J. Schroeder fired Hankison, saying he violated departmental rules and procedures, and deadly force standards in shooting and killing Taylor.
"When Hankison and two other plainclothes officers used a no-knock warrant to enter Taylor’s apartment March 13, he wantonly and blindly fired 10 rounds," said Chief Schroeder.
Media mogul and billionaire Oprah Winfrey was among a growing number of prominent Blacks who had demanded criminal charges relative to the tragedy, and Taylor's family and the family attorneys were pushing for indictments too.
Oprah had financed 26 billboards across the city calling for the indictments, a billboard for each of the 26-years Taylor was alive before she was erroneously gunned down.
Last month Winfrey stepped off the cover of O, The Oprah Magazine, for the first time in 20 years to feature Taylor on the cover of the latest issue, her picture an edited image that Taylor had of herself before she was killed.
Taylor's shooting death has heightened racial tensions in the Louisville community, the city only 23 percent Black, and Jefferson County, which includes Louisville, just 19 percent Black.
The state of Kentucky, with Louisville its largest city in front of Lexington, has a Black population of a mere eight percent.
Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert J. Schroeder fired Hankison, saying he violated departmental rules and procedures, and deadly force standards in shooting and killing Taylor.
"When Hankison and two other plainclothes officers used a no-knock warrant to enter Taylor’s apartment March 13, he wantonly and blindly fired 10 rounds," said Chief Schroeder.
Police claim her residence was suspected of drug activity and that a car registered to her was allegedly seen parked at a nearby residence under police surveillance for alleged drug dealing activity by an ex- acquaintance.
No drugs were found.
No drugs were found.
The city has since outlawed no knock warrants.
Seven people got shot in the crowd during one of Louisville's protest for justice for Breonna, one critically.
Taylor's shooting death by police has drawn ongoing protests in Louisville, including during the Kentucky Derby in early September, and is among other high profile excessive force cases across the county involving unarmed Blacks, including the May 25 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
A 46-year-old Black man, Floyd died when since fired Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin, who is White, the arresting officer, held his knee on his neck until he killed him, and before a crowd of people as the Black man pleaded for his life and cried out that he could not breathe.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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