Pictured is Breonna Taylor, whom Louisville Metro police shot and killed in March when they barged into her home unannounced via a no knock warrant, Taylor unarmed and shot eight times. Also pictured is former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison, who has been fired and charged with three felonies in her shooting death
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief. Coleman trained for 17 years as a reporter with the Call and Post Newspaper and is an investigative and political reporter with a background in legal and scientific reporting. She is also a former 15-year public school biology teacher.
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky-Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com remembers Breonna Taylor on the March 13 anniversary of her death.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of her tragic death.
Activists marched with her family members in Louisville today to remember her, and marches were also held in some other cities nationwide.
The young Black woman was gunned down by Louisville Metro police on March, 13, 2020 when three of them entered her apartment unannounced via a no knock narcotics warrant and a shoot out between the cops and her live-in boyfriend occurred.
No drugs were found on the premises.
The city of Louisville settled a wrongful death lawsuit last year with the family of the 26-year-old for $12 million, the largest excessive force settlement of its kind in Louisville's history and an even greater settlement than the $6 million handed to the family of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by the city of Cleveland in 2016.
Media mogul and billionaire Oprah Winfrey is among a host of prominent Blacks who demanded that the cops involved in Taylor's shooting death be indicted on criminal charges, only one of the police officers, detective Brett Hankinson, terminated behind the tragic killing of the young Black woman.
All three cops at issue are White, which has heightened racial tensions in the Louisville community, the city only 23 percent Black, and Jefferson County, which includes Louisville, just 19 percent Black.
Police shot off 32 bullets, and the emergency room technician was shot eight times.
Protests erupted in Louisville and across the country.
A county grand jury returned an indictment for three felony counts of wanton endangerment against former Louisville detective Brett Hankison, who shot and killed Taylor, though the charges are not for her shooting death but because he allegedly shot recklessly in her apartment.
Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert J. Schroeder fired Hankison before he was indicted, saying he violated departmental rules and procedures and deadly force standards in shooting and killing Taylor.
"When Hankison and two other plainclothes officers used a no-knock warrant to enter Taylor’s apartment March 13, he wantonly and blindly fired 10 rounds," said Chief Schroeder in firing Hankison.
"When Hankison and two other plainclothes officers used a no-knock warrant to enter Taylor’s apartment March 13, he wantonly and blindly fired 10 rounds," said Chief Schroeder in firing Hankison.
The other two involved officers, Sgt, Jonathan Mattingly and officer Myles Cosgrove, were not charged.
They remain on the job.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, a Democrat, had called for swift action by the grand jury on whether criminal charges would be brought in the case.
Kentucky Attorney Daniel Cameron, a Black Republican who oversaw the grand jury process, has faced scrutiny from activists, Black leaders and Civil Rights organizations like the NAACP because none of the three officers were charged specifically for Taylor's shooting death.
The state of Kentucky, with Louisville its largest city in front of Lexington, has a Black population of a mere eight percent. Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
