A Kentucky grand jury decided to indict Detective Brett Hankinson, one of the three police officers involved in the fatal shooting of 26-year-old emergency room technician Breonna Taylor, on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment. It appears that the charges stem from shots fired into other apartments—and not those that killed Taylor—during the raid on Taylor’s apartment in March.
The decision means that none of the three officers involved were not charged with any form of homicide. Instead, the charge of “wanton endangerment” indicates recklessness but not an intent to kill and carries a potential sentence of one to five years in prison. Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove, the other two officers who fired their guns that night, escaped criminal prosecution entirely.
Louisville has already ordered a curfew and declared a state of emergency in preparation for protests over the announcement. Police have blocked off downtown Louisville after protesters marched there Tuesday. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he was prepared to deploy the National Guard.
Taylor was killed in her apartment when plainclothes police officers, serving a warrant related to a drug investigation, entered her apartment after midnight, when Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were in bed. The details of the shooting have remained unclear, and one central dispute in the case has to do with whether the police announced themselves before forcing their way into her apartment, as they claim, or whether they did not, as Walker and some neighbors say.
Walker has said that he believed the person entering Taylor’s apartment might have been Taylor’s former boyfriend—the person whose activities were at the center of the police investigation—and appeared in the hallway with a legally owned gun as a matter of self defense against intruders. He then fired one shot, hitting Mattingly in the leg. Police fired back. Taylor was hit five times. In a 911 call, Walker can be heard telling a dispatcher that he didn’t understand what was happening and that “somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend.” An ambulance arrived to care for Mattingly, but no medical aid was given to Taylor. She died in her apartment, minutes after being shot.
It’s unclear which officers fired the shots that hit Taylor. Hankinson, however, was fired in June for violating department policy, having been accused of “wantonly and blindly” firing 10 times into Taylor’s apartment. Mattingly and Cosgrove have been placed on administrative leave. Walker was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but the charges were dropped in May.
Taylor’s death, along with that of George Floyd, helped spur a protest movement directed at police violence. It has also led to a movement against “no-knock” search warrants, which police use to surprise suspects in their homes. Louisville’s city council voted to ban no-knock warrants in June.
Taylor’s family has also settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the city for $12 million. As part of the settlement, the city has agreed to a number of procedural reforms. A separate internal review is investigating six Louisville police officers over whether they violated department policies.
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