NBJC Issues Statement Applauding DOJ’s Charges Against People who Aided in the Murder of Breonna Taylor
CONTACT: Brett Abrams | brett@unbendablemedia.com
Urges lawmakers and police departments across the country to limit or remove qualified immunity
The U.S. Department of Justice charged four former and current Louisville police officers with federal crimes in connection with the fatal raid on Breonna Taylor’s home in 2020.
Ex-detectives Joshua Jaynes and Brett Hankison and current officers Kyle Meany and Kelly Goodlett face charges that include civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news conference Thursday.
The action caps a federal investigation that looked at how police obtained the search warrant for Taylor’s apartment. The indictments made public Thursday allege that Jaynes and Meany “drafted and approved what they knew was a false affidavit to support a search warrant for Ms. Taylor’s home,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in Washington. “That false affidavit set in motion events that led to Ms. Taylor’s death when other LMPD officers executed that warrant.”
Victoria Kirby York, deputy executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, a leading Black LGBTQ+/SGL civil rights organization, responded:
“The U.S. Department of Justice was innovative and thorough in their investigation regarding the police involved murder of Breonna Taylor. Accountability was not delivered in the trial to convict the officers for murdering her due to unjust laws that allow police officers to not follow the laws they force the rest of us to obey. Her murder could have been avoided if these officers hadn’t drafted a false affidavit to gain a search warrant for Taylor’s home. Further, DOJ found that officers conspired to cover up their actions in the aftermath of the public outcry.
Hopefully, The officers facing the consequences of their actions in federal court will deter other officers from creating circumstances that result in too many innocent Black people dying at the hands of those who are supposed to ‘protect and serve’ us.
“We urge lawmakers and law enforcement across the country to remove qualified immunity and special protections when it comes at the expense of the innocent. The actions of police officers should stand up in the court of law the same as the rest of us.”