by Bob Walsh
The death of Breonna Taylor in Lousiville, KY. on March 13 was both tragic and stupid. Three officers, none in uniform, served a no-knock warrant in the wee hours of the morning expecting to find drugs. The occupants thought they were on the wrong end of a home invasion. They called the cops and Taylor's boyfriend came up with his own gat and fired at what he believed to be intruders. He shot one cop in he leg.
Bret Hankison was one of the three officers there. All three fired in return. Hankison, however, fired at least 10 rounds, possibly as many as 20, blind, from outside of the apartment thru a window that had blinds drawn over it. Ms. Taylor, an EMT, was shot eight times and died.
Officer Hankison has been on the wrong end of at least one prior reckless conduct beef. The interim police chief, Robert Schroeder, expressed that he was "alarmed and stunned" at Hankison's use of deadly force in the fashion that he did. He added, "Your conduct demands your termination." The other two officers, Sgt. Mattingly and Officer Cosgrove, fired from inside the apartment and have been reassigned pending further investigation.
The FOP has declined comment.
Hankison is also under investigation for multiple cases of alleged sexual assault of intoxicated women. He allegedly offers them a lift home from a bar and sexually assaults them. Those allegations are being looked at but apparently did not come to light before the shooting.
It would also be interesting to know what the genesis of the complaint was that led to a no-knock warrant being issued. As far as I know neither of the occupants of the apartment had a drug history and zero illegal substances were found in the apartment.
If I recall correctly Louisville P D is no longer applying for no-knock warrants and the Kentucky legislature is moving to outlaw them in the state.
3 comments:
Acquire your target before firing. I'm a little perplexed that the shooting team cannot figure out how many times he fired. Count the expended brass. Pretty simple stuff. When the FOP won't comment it must be bad. On top of it all, now he's a date rapist suspect?
Several people there, including the other cops, assert that he yelled RELOADING, shoved in another magazine and continue to fire blindly into the apartment expending a total of 20 or more rounds. The OFFICIAL word is apparently not yet in on the shooting, at least for public consumption. I am confident the interim Chief and the shooting team know pretty much what happened..
This is a good reason to stop no-knock warrants. Police appear to have lied (again) to get the warrant, judge fails to do any due diligence before signing, and innocent (at least of the accused crime) are killed, and a person defending himself is jailed.
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