Jessica Schladebeck
New York Daily News
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The lone Kentucky police officer criminally charged in connection with the botched no-knock raid that culminated in the death of Breonna Taylor is set to stand trial on Wednesday, nearly two years later.
Taylor, a Black EMT was asleep in bed with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, on March 13, 2020 when three undercover Louisville cops — Brett Hankison, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove — burst into her home at around 12:40 a.m. Walker fired off a warning shot, unaware the men he thought to be intruders were in reality, law enforcement officers.
Police returned fire, striking Taylor six times. She was pronounced dead on the scene.
While none of the officers were charged directly with her death, Hankison, who has since been fired, faces three counts of felony wanton endangerment for allegedly blindly firing 10 shots from outside the building. Prosecutors have said his bullets pierced the wall of Taylor’s apartment and put her neighbors — a couple and their infant child — in danger.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted he faces a one- to five-year prison term for each count.
Hankison’s jury was selected from a larger pool than usual due to the widespread attention Taylor’s case has captured in wake of the bloody narcotics raid. Her death came just months before that of George Floyd, who was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis on Memorial Day 2020. Both of their names were invoked by protesters, who took to the streets nationwide to demand an end to systemic racism and police brutality as well as justice for the victims.
In June 2020, the Louisville Metro City Council passed “Breonna’s Law,” prohibiting the warrants like the one issued ahead of Taylor’s death. Just prior to the deadly narcotics raid, 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, though the suspected drug dealer had not been living with her at the time.
No evidence of drugs were found inside the apartment, and Taylor’s family have long maintained she was not involved in her ex-boyfriend’s alleged drug dealings.
The Kentucky State Legislature in April 2021 also went on to place restrictions on no-knock warrants, but stopped short of outlawing them.
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