Brett Hankison, who has faced a lawsuit in the past for alleged sexual assault and left the Lexington police force with no recommendations for re-employment, was acquitted of all three charges of felony wanton endangerment related to the death of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in 2020. The 45-year-old was the only officer charged in the “botched” raid that started with a no-knock warrant and ended with the death of Taylor, an emergency medical technician. Hankison and two others fired nearly three dozen shots, six of which struck Taylor. Hankison was only charged for the bullets that hit a neighboring apartment and put at least three more people at risk.
One of those people, Cody Etherton, testified that he was just an inch away from being shot. Defense attorney Stewart Mathews contended that his client was simply doing his job and trying to protect his fellow officers—an incredible indictment of policing as far as defenses go. Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, declined to speak with reporters following the reading of the verdict. Mathews nonetheless said that “justice was done,” even though Hankison even admitted on the witness stand that “[Taylor] didn’t need to die that night.” Look for any sentiment echoed by officers Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly and you’re bound to come up empty-handed. Mattingly even tweeted following the verdict, “Not guilty! Thank you Jesus!”
So far, the only justice that’s been done is the adoption of Breonna’s Law, which the Louisville Metro Council unanimously approved three months after Taylor’s death, banning no-knock search warrants. But God help you if you live in another part of Kentucky—state law still allows no-knock warrants, though they are now limited. Little justice has been served even around the country. Just over a dozen states ban no-knock warrants. I sadly know from first-hand experience that Louisiana, where I live, is not on that list and only last year restricted no-knock warrants.
I can remember the first no-knock search warrant carried out in my apartment in the Treme way back in 2010. Officers burst into my bedroom with flashlights and no announcement, just guns drawn alongside the light that eventually woke me up. As in Taylor’s situation, the warrant was for someone who didn’t even live at the apartment. In fact, the person whose residence they were hoping to search for was a prior tenant in the upstairs apartment but hadn’t lived there in at least half a year. It remains one of the most terrifying experiences of my entire life—and I’m lucky to even be alive to type those words.
Someone who did take seriously the sustained trauma of Taylor’s death is Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who issued a statement recognizing the “frustration and anger” of the verdict.
“While the conduct considered in this case was not specific to Breonna Taylor’s death, the fact remains that she should not have died that night, and I know that for many, justice has still not been achieved,” Fischer noted.