A former police detective who fired 10 shots through Breonna Taylor’s apartment in a fatal raid in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2020 was found guilty Friday of violating her rights by using excessive force.
But the jury cleared the former officer, Brett Hankison, of violating the rights of Taylor’s neighbours.
Hankison was the only officer to be charged for his actions during the raid, although none of the shots he fired hit Taylor. Two other officers fired the 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 her ex-boyfriend, who did not live with Taylor at that time, was a suspect.
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After police broke down Taylor’s door, her new boyfriend, fearing a break-in and saying he did not hear police identify themselves, fired one shot from a handgun that wounded an officer. That officer and another returned fire. Six shots struck Taylor, killing her.
The shooting was among several police killings that set off a wave of protests across the country in 2020.
It was not the first time that Hankison faced a jury in the case. Last year, a judge declared a mistrial after jurors failed to come to a unanimous verdict on federal civil rights charges. – Wires