Tag: Breonna Taylor

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Michigan Expands Civil Rights Protections To LGBTQs + More News

Lawmakers in Michigan have passed a bill to expand civil rights protections to the LGBTQ community in areas of employment, housing and more
(image via Depositphotos)
Some news items you might have missed: • The Hill: Lawmakers in Michigan have passed a bill to expand civil rights protections to the LGBTQ community in areas of employment, housing and more. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) has signaled she plans on signing the bill into law. Continue reading “Michigan Expands Civil Rights Protections To LGBTQs + More News”

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On The Anniversary Of The Shooting Death Of Breonna Taylor

Breonna Taylor

Breonna Taylor
Breonna Taylor
It was exactly one year ago today that an innocent young Black woman lost her life in a late-night police raid gone wrong as police gunfire rained through her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky. From the New York Times:

For months, her death went largely unrecognized. Once more people took notice, though, the city was shaken to its core. Protests rocked the downtown area during the summer and fall as demonstrators demanded justice through tears and megaphones and erected a memorial in a prominent square. They prayed together and sang together, chanting, “Say her name!”

Breonna Taylor became a rallying cry, and when no officers were charged in connection with her death, which occurred during a botched drug raid, protesters returned to the streets. Activists are optimistic that the first anniversary of her death, on Saturday, will further fuel a promising surge of civic engagement, particularly from Black residents.

“What happened to Breonna Taylor has shaped every aspect of our lives,” said Charles Booker, a former state representative for Louisville. “Her door being kicked in was our door being kicked in. It really has transformed everything.”

For those who aren’t aware, the police got a tip Taylor’s apartment was being used to traffic drugs. They got the address wrong. According to reports, the police burst through the door in the middle of the night under the use of what’s known as a ‘no-knock warrant’ which means they didn’t announce who they were before entering. Taylor was shot dead in her bed. Over the course of a year, none of the officers who fired into the apartment that night has been charged for the death of Taylor. Read the full article.

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Breonna Taylor Grand Jury Member: We Weren’t Given Opportunity To Consider Homicide Charges

Deceased ER tech Breonna Taylor (AFP/Getty Images/Fair Use)
A ruling from a Kentucky judge has allowed an anonymous grand juror in the Breonna Taylor case to come forward and speak publicly about court proceedings. The juror shares the grand jury was never given an option to even consider homicide charges regarding the police officers who shot Taylor bed in the middle of the night. From ABC News:

“Being one of the jurors on the Breonna Taylor case was a learning experience. The three weeks of service leading up to that presentation showed how the grand jury normally operates. The Breonna Taylor case was quite different.

“After hearing the Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s press conference, and with my duty as a grand juror being over, my duty as a citizen compelled action,” the statement said. “The grand jury did not have homicide offenses explained to them. The grand jury never heard anything about those laws. Self defense or justification was never explained either.”

They said “questions were asked about additional charges,” but the grand jury was told there would be none because the prosecutors didn’t feel they could make them stick.

“The grand jury was not given the opportunity to deliberate on those charges and deliberated only on what was presented to them. I cannot speak for other jurors but I can help the truth be told.”

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Former Louisville Detective Charged But Not For Killing Breonna Taylor

Deceased ER tech Breonna Taylor (AFP/Getty Images/Fair Use)
A former Louisville police detective has been indicted by a grand jury in connection with the late-night police shooting which led to the death of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor. But the officer wasn’t charged with killing Taylor. From the New York Times:

A grand jury indicted a former Louisville police detective on Wednesday for endangering Breonna Taylor’s neighbors by recklessly firing his gun during a raid on her apartment in March. No officer was charged with killing Ms. Taylor.

Grand jurors indicted Brett Hankison, the former detective, on three counts of “wanton endangerment,” saying he had threatened three people’s lives by firing bullets that traveled through Ms. Taylor’s apartment and into theirs. A pregnant woman, her husband and their 5-year-old child were asleep in that apartment, and the bullets shattered a glass door but did not harm the couple and their child.

Mr. Hankison had fired into the sliding glass patio door and window of Ms. Taylor’s apartment building, both of which were covered with blinds, in violation of a department policy that requires officers to have a line of sight.

He is the only one of the three officers who was dismissed from the force, with a termination letter stating that he showed “an extreme indifference to the value of human life.”

The Times notes that several legal experts had theorized the officers wouldn’t be indicted for Taylor’s death since it was her boyfriend who fired his gun first when the cops entered the apartment without apparently announcing who they were under a ‘no-knock’ warrant. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced a 72-hour countywide curfew beginning at 9 pm in anticipation of protests. Taylor’s family agreed to a $12 million settlement last week.

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Louisville Officials Agree To $12 Million Settlement With Family Of Breonna Taylor

Deceased emergency room tech Breonna Taylor (AFP/Getty Images/Fair Use)
City officials in Louisville, Kentucky, have agreed to a $12 million settlement with the family of Breonna Taylor,  a young Black woman who was killed by white police officers during a botched drug raid. The officers were barged through the front door of Taylor’s apartment while executing a ‘no-knock’ warrant in the middle of the night as Taylor and her boyfriend were in bed.  No drugs were found on the premises. The city has also announced plans to From the New York Times:

The settlement of a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by relatives of Ms. Taylor, a young Black woman killed by white officers in a botched drug raid six months ago, is expected to be announced Tuesday by the family’s legal team and city officials, according to those briefed on the agreement.

Besides the multimillion-dollar settlement, among the highest to be awarded in a police killing in recent years, the city has also agreed to institute a number of changes in policing. They will impose more scrutiny on officers during the execution of search warrants, like the one that precipitated the death of Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, and make mandatory safeguards that were common practice in the department but were not followed the night of the March 13 raid.

Ms. Taylor died after her boyfriend said he mistook police officers for an intruder, as they rammed in the door of her apartment after midnight to execute a search warrant. He fired his handgun, striking one of the officers, setting off a response in which a torrent of bullets sliced through Ms. Taylor’s apartment and two adjoining ones, leaving her bleeding in her hallway.

There was no effort to render her aid, as the officers outside scrambled to get an ambulance for the wounded officer.