Breonna Taylor: Four US Police Officers Charged Over Shooting

EKO HOT BLOG reports that four US police officers have been arrested and charged over the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.

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Taylor was killed in her home in Louisville, Kentucky, on 13 March 2020 by plainclothes police who were executing a “no-knock” search warrant.

The hospital worker, 26, was shot as officers stormed the apartment just after midnight while she was with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker.

Her death sparked racial injustice protests around the country.

Federal investigators say that three of the four officers conspired to falsify the arrest warrant that led to Taylor’s death.

Only one officer involved in the raid – former Louisville detective Brett Hankinson – had been previously charged over the case. He was the only one of the four charged on Thursday who was present at the scene of Taylor’s shooting.

Hankinson, who fired 10 shots during the incident, was acquitted by a jury earlier this year of endangering Taylor’s neighbours when some of the bullets he fired entered their home.

The other officers charged by the Department of Justice are Joshua Jaynes, also a fired officer, and serving officers Kelly Hanna Goodlett and Kyle Meany. Louisville police say they are trying to fire Meanyand and Goodlett.

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The federal indictment announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland accuses the four of civil rights offences, unlawful conspiracy, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction.

Meany and Jaynes are alleged to have violated Taylor’s civil rights by preparing a false search warrant affidavit. Goodlett allegedly conspired with Jaynes to falsify the warrant.

Hankinson is accused of civil rights offences for firing his service weapon into Taylor’s apartment through a covered window and glass door.