The Jefferson County grand jury made their decision on whether the police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor would be charged on Wednesday, Sept. 23.
It was decided that only one officer, Brett Hankison, would be indicted and face charges on three counts of wanton endangerment, a slap in the face to those who have been protesting for months for police brutality, systemic racism and social injustice to end. The former police officer had fired gunshots into Taylor’s apartment. The other two officers involved, Myles Cosgrove and John Mattingly, were not charged.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron held a press conference to speak about the decision. However, the information delivered throughout the awkward session did nothing to give a solid basis on why the other officers were not being held accountable for recklessly unloading bullets in someone’s home, in spite of race.
Cameron avoided race-based questions and repeated over and over that six bullets from one gun were found in the victim’s body. He also said that the bullets shot from the other officers were justified on that fateful night in March because it was in self-defense from the bullets shot by Taylor’s boyfriend. Huh?
The boarded up city of Louisville, Kentucky prepped for what may be another day of protests and possible riots.Rightfully so, a 9 P.M. to 6:30 A.M. curfew has been enforced by the Mayor of Louisville, Greg Fischer.
“I can’t make it make sense in my head,” Lonita Baker said on Facebook. “Wanton endangerment to a neighboring apartment constitutes wanton endangerment to Breonna. She was clearly unarmed – as indicated in Mattingly’s statement – yet multiple bullets were fired at her while she was already on the ground. A search warrant obtained with lies … If there were facts sufficient to indict for wanton endangerment to other people, there were facts sufficient to indict for wanton murder of Breonna.”
The NAACP released the following statement:
“The injustice we’re witnessing at this moment can be sensed throughout the nation. Kentucky General Daniel Cameron’s failure to bring substantial charges against the officers who murdered Breonna Taylor causes angst and pain for far too many Americans still reeling from a pandemic. The charges of wanton endangerment in connection with the murder of Breonna Taylor does not go far enough and is a miscarriage of justice for her family and the people of Louisville.”
