They are said to have forged a search warrant and stormed the home of a black paramedic. Her friend suspects a burglar and opens fire. In the end, the woman is dead. More than two years after the crime, four police officers have to answer in court.
Almost two and a half years after the death of African American Breonna Taylor, the US Department of Justice has indicted four police officers in the case. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the officers were charged with civil rights violations and unconstitutional use of force, among other things.
26-year-old paramedic Breonna Taylor was shot dead by white police officers at her home in Louisville, Kentucky, in March 2020. The officers in plain clothes had stormed the apartment during a night drug raid. Taylor’s boyfriend, who was in bed with her, said he believed it was a robbery and opened fire with his gun, which he legally owned. Taylor was killed by eight bullets in the exchange of fire.
Garland stated that three of the officers also face charges of forging a search warrant. They are accused of violating Taylor’s rights by applying for a search warrant on her home, even though they knew they had no good reason to do so. Garland added that officers also allegedly “took steps to cover up their unlawful conduct.” The fourth officer is charged with using excessive force after shooting wildly during the raid.
The deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd in a police operation in Minneapolis in May 2020 were at the center of a wave of protests in the United States against police violence and racism. Two police officers were fired after Taylor’s death. The state judiciary had indicted one of the police officers – but only because of the endangerment of Taylor’s neighbors through the shooting. He was acquitted in March of this year.
