Six Months After Breonna Taylor's Death, One Officer Has Been Charged With Wanton Endangerment

Benjamin Crump, a lawyer representing Taylor's family, had previously called for charges of second-degree manslaughter. Crump has since said the indictment is "outrageous and offensive."

Prior to the grand jury's announcement, the Louisville mayor announced a countywide curfew, and the interim chief of police declared a state of emergency for the Louisville Metro Police Department.

Across the nation, protestors had prepared for the day's announcement, setting up events in various cities:

Original post: June 5th would have been Breonna Taylor's 27th birthday. Taylor was shot and killed by police in her own home on March 13th, but the officers involved in her death have yet to be arrested and charged. Now, nearly 200 days later, people are still demanding justice.

Taylor, who worked as an emergency medical technician, was in her Kentucky apartment with her boyfriend when police attempted what has been referred to as a “botched” search warrant execution. Her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit and hired Benjamin Crump, a civil rights attorney who is also representing the families of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. The Louisville Courier-Journalreports that the city will pay Taylor's family a $12 million settlement in the lawsuit, said to be the largest in the city's history and one of the top in U.S. history.

“They’re killing our sisters just like they’re killing our brothers, but for whatever reason, we have not given our sisters the same attention that we have given to Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Stephon Clark, Terence Crutcher, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Laquan McDonald,” Crump told The Washington Post. "Breonna’s name should be known by everybody in America who said those other names, because she was in her own home, doing absolutely nothing wrong.” He continued, “If you ran for Ahmaud, you need to stand for Bre.”

Below, what you need to know about Taylor’s case, her family's settlement from the city, and how you can help right now.

What happened on March 13th?

In the early morning, police officers came to Taylor’s apartment where she was asleep with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker. According to the Associated Press, police had a warrant to search Taylor’s apartment as part of a drug investigation, though the family’s lawsuit states the suspect in the investigation had already been detained at the time of the search. Police believed one of the suspects was using Taylor’s apartment to “receive mail, keep drugs, or stash money earned from the sale of drugs,” according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

The suit states Taylor and Walker believed the plainclothes police were breaking into the apartment since they entered “without knocking and without announcing themselves as police officers.” A judge had signed a “no-knock” provision for the police, meaning they were able to go into Taylor’s apartment without identifying themselves, though police claim they did. Walker shot at a police officer in what he says was self-defense. Police then fired into the apartment, hitting Taylor eight times. The suit says Taylor was unarmed and Walker had a license to carry. The lawsuit filed by Taylor’s family also states that neighbors have confirmed the police did not knock or identify themselves before entering.

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One officer was shot in the leg, and Walker was arrested and charged with assault and attempted murder of a police officer. Prosecutors have since dismissed the charges. The Associated Press reports that no drugs were found in the apartment, and Taylor and Walker had no prior criminal history or drug convictions.

New audio from interviews with police and Walker was released in July, per NBC. In the interview, Walker is heard recounting the night of March 13th and the events that led to his girlfriend's death.

"It's a loud boom at the door," he said. "First thing she said was, 'Who is it?' No response. We both get up, start putting on clothes, another knock at the door. She's like, 'Who is it?' Loud, at the top of her lungs. No response. I grab my gun, which is legal, like I'm licensed to carry, everything. I've never even fired my gun outside of a range. I'm scared to death." He added that Taylor yelled "at the top of her lungs" again to ask who was there. "No response, no anything." He said Taylor put on clothes to answer the door, but then it came "off the hinges."

He continued: "I just let off one shot. Like, I still can't see who it is or anything. So now the door's, like, flying open. I let off one shot, and then all of a sudden there's a whole lot of shots and we like we both just dropped to the ground."

In an interview, Sgt. Jon Mattingly, who broke down Taylor's door with officers Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison, said: "The first banging on the door, [we] did not announce." He said, "I think after that we did. ... After that, each one of them said, 'Police, come to the door. Search warrant. Police, search warrant.'"

In his interview, Walker said he did not hear this: "All I can hear is a knock at the door." He said, "Even if somebody was saying something on the other side, you probably couldn't hear them. But as loud as we were screaming to say who it is, I know whoever will be on the other side of the door could hear us."

What is Breonna's Law?

In early June, the Louisville Metro Council's Public Safety Committee approved a new ordinance called "Breonna's Law" that would make it so "no-knock" warrants could only be sought if there's "imminent threat of harm or death" and would also be limited to "offenses including murder, hostage-taking, kidnapping, terrorism, human trafficking and sexual trafficking," according to the Courier-Journal.

On June 11th, all 26 members of the Louisville Metro Council voted to pass the ban, which prohibits any search warrant that doesn't require police to verbally announce themselves and their purpose at the property. "Breonna's Law" also states that any Louisville Metro Police Department or Metro law enforcement must knock and wait a minimum of 15 seconds for a response, according to NBC News. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer signed the ordinance on June 12th.

After the ordinance was passed, Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer said, "I'm just going to say that Breonna, that's all she wanted to do was save lives. So with this law, she'll get to continue to do that," per NBC News.

What is outlined in the Louisville PD incident report related to Breonna's death?

Nearly three months after Taylor's death, the Louisville Police Department released a four-page incident report from March 13th. You can read the report here, although there isn't much to see—and what's there runs contrary to what we know about the night Taylor was killed by police.

The report details the location (with partially redacted address), age (with redacted birth date), and full name of the victim. (The Courier-Journal notes that both Taylor's address and date of birth have been "widely reported" already.) Charges are listed as "death investigation — LMBD involved." Names of the three officers who fatally shot Taylor and still have yet to be charged are listed as Sgt. Jon Mattingly, 47; Myles Cosgrove, 42; and Brett Hankison, 44. (Ages reported via the Courier-Journal.) Hankison is also undergoing a sexual assault investigation after allegations by at least two women.

But what's more concerning are the rows of information left blank and two major inaccuracies regarding the night Taylor was killed. The department's report lists Taylor's injuries as "none," even though she was shot at least eight times by the three officers. The "no" box is checked under "forced entry," even though police are believed to have used a battering ram to break through Taylor's door.