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

A former police detective who fired 10 shots into Breonna Taylor’s apartment in a deadly raid in Louisville. KentuckyHe was found guilty of violating his rights by using excessive force on Friday in 2020.

But the jury cleared former police officer Brett Hankison of violating the rights of Taylor’s neighbors.

Hankison was the only officer charged for his actions during the raid, but none of the shots he fired hit Taylor. Two other officers opened fire, killing 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 was not living with Taylor at the time, was a suspect.

After the police broke down Taylor’s door, Taylor’s new boyfriend, afraid of being broken into, said he did not hear the police identify himself and fired a single shot from his gun, wounding a police officer. That officer and another returned fire. Taylor was shot six times, killing him.

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

This wasn’t Hankison’s first encounter with a jury in the case. Last year, a judge declared a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict on the federal civil rights charges. – Wires