Former Kentucky officer found guilty of violating Breonna Taylor’s rights – The Irish Times

The former police detective who fired 10 shots into Breonna Taylor’s apartment during a fatal raid in Louisville. Kentuckyin 2020 was found guilty Friday of violating her rights by using excessive force.

But the jury found former officer Brett Hankison guilty of violating the rights of Taylor’s neighbors.

Hankison was the only officer charged for his actions during the raid, although none of the shots he fired hit Taylor. Two other officers fired shots that killed Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman who worked as an emergency room technician.

Police wanted to search Taylor’s home in connection with a drug investigation in which the suspect was her ex-boyfriend, who was not living with Taylor at the time.

After police broke down Taylor’s door, her new boyfriend, fearing a break-in and claiming he had not heard police identify themselves, fired one shot from his gun, wounding the officer. That officer and another returned fire. Six shots hit Taylor, killing her.

The shooting was among several police killings that sparked a wave of protests across the country in 2020.

This was not the first time Hankison had faced a jury in this case. Last year, a judge declared a mistrial after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on federal civil rights charges. – Wires