Brett Hankison.Photo: Louisville Metro Police Department
Brett Hankison, formerly a detective with the Louisville Metro Police Department, was acquitted Thursday of endangerment charges related to the police raid that killed 26-year-oldBreonna Taylornearly two years ago.
Hankison, who wasterminated from the police departmentfor his involvement in the raid, faced three counts of wanton endangerment for unloading 10 bullets into Taylor’s apartment on March 13, 2020. Though he did not fire at Taylor directly, three of his bullets pierced her apartment wall and entered a neighbor’s apartment, where a family was sleeping.
Jurors only deliberated for about three hours Thursday before handing down a not guilty verdict, one day after the officer testified that in his own defense that he did"absolutely" nothing wrong.
Breonna Taylor.Instagram
Two other officers involved in the botched raid — Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and detective Miles Cosgrove —did not face criminal charges, despite an internal investigation conducted in December 2020 that determined all three officersshould have held their fire.
“They took a total of thirty-two shots, when the provided circumstances made it unsafe to take a single shot. This is how the wrong person was shot and killed,” wrote Sgt. Andrew Meyer of the police department’s Professional Standards Unit, according to the report.
The lawsuit alleged police actually were looking for a man who lived in Taylor’s building but not her apartment, and who had been apprehended before the officers allegedly entered Taylor’s apartment unannounced.
Taylor became a face for theBlack Lives Mattermovement following her death. Her unnecessary death, along with the murder ofGeorge Floydtwo months later, sparked nationwide protests against police brutality.
The city of Louisville eventually reached asettlement of $12 millionwith Taylor’s family in response to the lawsuit.
source: people.com
