On Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland provided an update into the Justice Department's nearly two-year investigation into the practices of the Louisville Police Department in the wake of Breonna Taylorโs 2020 death.
During a press conference, Garland announced the DOJ found Louisville police officers have discriminated against Black people, noting the Louisville Police Department โrelied heavily on pretextual traffic stops in Black neighborhoods.โ
โIn these stops, officers use theย pretense for making a stop forย minor traffic offense in orderย to investigate for other crimes,โ he continued.
โSome officers have demonstratedย disrespect for the people theyย are sworn to protect.ย Some have videotaped themselvesย throwing drinks at pedestriansย from their cars, insulted peopleย with disabilities and calledย Black people โmonkeys,' โanimal' andย โboy.'ย This conduct is unacceptable.ย It is heartbreaking.ย It erodes the community trustย necessary for effective policingย and it is an affront to the vastย majority of officers who putย their lives on the line everyย day to serve Louisville withย honor, and it is an affront toย the people of Louisville whoย deserve better,โ he said.
The report found that officers used unreasonable tactics including unjustified neck restraints, police dogs and tasers.
The report also found that the police department executes search warrants without knocking and announcing.
โBut Louisville Metro's and LMPD's unlawful conduct did not start in 2020. As an LMPD leader told us shortly after we opened this investigation, โBreonna Taylor was a symptom of problems that we have had for years,'โ the report said.ย
The 26-year-old emergency room technician's death sparked nationwide protests in 2020.
Per CNN, on March 12, 2020, a Jefferson County Circuit Court judge approved five search warrants for locations linked to Taylor's ex-boyfriend, a convicted felon suspected of supplying a local drug house. One of those locations was Taylor's residence.
In the early hours of March 13, ex-detective Brett Hankison and other officers executed a warrant at Taylor's apartment.ย Taylor was in bed with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker III, when the officers announced their presence and then battered down the front door.
Taylor, who was standing in a hallway with Walker, was shot multiple times. Walker was not injured.
โSomebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend,โ Walker said in a 911 call.
Hankison had been standing outside the apartment and is accused of blindly firing through a door and a window. His bullets entered a neighboring apartment, where a pregnant woman, a man and a child were home, according to the state attorney general.
None of the police officers at the raid were wearing body cameras, and there is no video of the night Taylor was killed.
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1 Comment
When you stand with a person trying to kill somebody, especially somebody that is able to fight back, if you don’t do everything in your power to separate yourself from this person you are a willing accomplice and accept the consequences.(trying to use your presence as a shield)