Ex-Louisville police officer tied to Breonna Taylor murder acquitted
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A Kentucky jury found a former police officer not guilty of the murder of Breonna Taylor who was shot dead while in her sleep during a bungled police raid.
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Ex-Louisville police officer tied to Breonna Taylor murder acquitted
In a report by The New York Times, a jury in Kentucky acquitted a former police officer charged with firing ten rounds during a bungled police raid that killed Breonna Taylor in her sleep.
On Thursday, detective Brett Hankison, who was acquitted of three counts of "wanton endangerment", told the jury that he fired inside Taylor's apartment because he feared other cops were in danger after her boyfriend Kenneth Walker fired at what he thought were intruders.
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Taylor, a 26-year-old Black emergency room technician, was hit by two police officers who returned fire. In 2020, her death, along with the vigilante murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd by former Minnesota Police Officer Derek Chauvin, sparked nationwide protests.
Hankison dashed from the doorway to the side of the building and fired 10 rounds through a window and sliding glass door into Taylor's apartment.
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Three bullets struck Taylor's apartment, as well as a nearby flat, where Chelsey Napper, who was pregnant at the time, her boyfriend, and her 5-year-old son were sleeping.
As she checked on her kid and took cover on the floor, Napper said that it felt like bullets were "flying everywhere". Napper's kitchen table, a wall, and a glass patio door were all hit by the gunshots.
None of the cops suspected of shooting and killing Taylor while she was sleeping have been charged or held in any way responsible or accountable.
