by Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project:
On Wednesday, the United States Justice Department (DoJ) released the findings of its two-year civil rights investigation into the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) and Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government (Louisville Metro) in Louisville, Kentucky, that was launched following the brutal police murder of Breonna Taylor during a raid on March 13, 2020. The full 90-page report can be viewed here.
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The 26-year-old Taylor, an African American emergency room technician and aspiring nurse, was killed after three plainclothes officers executed a so-called “no knock” search warrant by battering down the door of her apartment shortly after midnight. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who was staying with Taylor at the time, believed they were being robbed, and fearful for their lives, fired a warning shot which struck the leg of one of the officers.
Officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove, who never announced they were police, responded by indiscriminately firing 32 shots into the apartment, six of which struck Taylor, killing her. A number of rounds entered an adjacent apartment where a family—including a five-year-old child and a pregnant woman—were sleeping.
On August 4, 2022, the DoJ charged four officers—Joshua Jaynes, Hankison, Kyle Meany and Kelly Hanna Goodlett—for their role in Taylor’s killing. The review of the LMPD by the DoJ is separate from the federal criminal case surrounding the officers that remains underway.
In a press release, the DoJ writes that the LMPD and Louisville Metro knowingly engaged “in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law.” The DoJ also stated that “it has entered into an agreement in principle with Louisville Metro and LMPD, which have committed to resolving the department’s findings through a court-enforceable consent decree with an independent monitor, rather than contested litigation.”
The report’s key findings state that LMPD “uses excessive force, including unjustified neck restraints and the unreasonable use of police dogs and tasers; conducts searches based on invalid warrants; unlawfully executes search warrants without knocking and announcing; unlawfully stops, searches, detains, and arrests people during street enforcement activities, including traffic and pedestrian stops; unlawfully discriminates against Black people in its enforcement activities; violates the rights of people engaged in protected free speech critical of policing; and along with Louisville Metro, discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to them in crisis.”
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