On March 13th, after midnight hours, Louisville police arrived at 3003 Springfield Drive, Apt. 4 on an attempted drug raid. No drugs were ever found. Still, the events that unfolded would lead to the tragic death of 26-year old Black woman, Breonna Taylor.
She had been a medical worker — an EMT and aspiring nurse who was sleeping in bed with her boyfriend, peaceably, and unsuspecting before getting shot by police officers in a blind raid. Months later, her death has precipitated street protests, stimulating momentum in the revolutionary Black Lives Matter demonstrations that demanded justice within Kentucky and other states. An outcry for action has erupted, but that will not come.
After a period of what seemed to be an endless search for justice sought on by protestors, the family of Taylor, Kenneth Walker, and as well Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced on a Wednesday afternoon that the officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor would not be facing criminal charges.
“I hope you never know the pain of your child being murdered 191 days in a row,” Breonna Taylor’s aunt, Bianca Austin, read off Palmer’s statement.
The decision to not charge Taylor’s killers comes at a time in which this nation is piqued by racial tensions and the unjust killings of Black people; but, America’s history is riddled with granting impunity to those who persecute minorities, namely if they operate under the guise of law enforcement.
Cries for justice from the family of Taylor and countless protestors have not been answered.
Former detective Brett Hankison was the only officer indicted in the case and he faces charges of wanton endangerment in the first degree. The other two officers have not been indicted. Attorney General Cameron, who is a staunch Republican and protege of senator Mitch McConnell, attempted to overshadow the unfavorable outcome of the case with “facts” and the notion that “the use of force by Maddingly and Congrove was justified to protect themselves.”
“If we simply act on outrage, there is no justice — mob justice is not justice. Justice sought by violence is not justice. It just becomes revenge,” he said.
The full story, however, does not seem to be something that the attorney general would like to put forth, and it has long been shadowed from the public. A motion to release Breonna Taylor’s grand jury records has been called and it will spark the topic of whether the attorney general fluenced the grand jury.
The story of Breonna Taylor is but another reminder of the insufficient and negligent actions of those who deem themselves as lawful. In truth, her death could have very well been avoided, and that alone is the greatest injustice of all.
