Black woman shot and killed after Kentucky police entered her home as she slept, family says

[left-of-center2012]

A black woman was asleep in her Louisville, Kentucky, home when three police officers forced their way inside, "blindly fired" and killed her, according to a lawsuit filed by the woman's family. Breonna Taylor, an EMT worker, died on March 13 after officers with the Louisville Metro Police Department executed a search warrant at the wrong home, the suit states.

The officers were looking for a suspect who lived in a different part of the city and was already in police custody after he was arrested earlier.

The lawsuit states that Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were asleep in the bedroom when police in plain clothes and unmarked vehicles arrived at the house around 12:30 a.m. The three officers entered Taylor's home "without knocking and without announcing themselves as police officers," the suit states.

The lawsuit says Taylor and Walker woke up and thought criminals were breaking in. Walker called 911 and police said he opened fire (at the unknown intruders) and shot an officer. The suit states that Walker had a license to carry and kept firearms in the home for protection.

"The police then proceeded to spray gunfire into the residence with a total disregard for the value of human life," the lawsuit alleges. "Shots were blindly fired by the officers all throughout Breonna's home." Taylor, 26, was shot eight times and died. Walker, 27, was arrested and charged with attempted murder on a police officer.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-woman-shot-killed-after-kentucky-police-entered-her-home-n1205651

[mcar]

1. When will it end?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. FTP.

[Coventina]

40. Yup. n/t

[Jamastiene]

3. They were wearing plain clothes and did not announce themselves AND were at the wrong house?

I'm not sure of the laws there, but in NC, that's castle doctrine. Homeowners have a right to defend ourselves. What a senseless death and a senseless arrest as well.

She was shot eight times, while she was asleep? I cannot think of any excuse those cops can come up with that would justify any of their actions. They caused this crap by doing everything wrong.

[Newest Reality]

10. Are warrents...

Are warrants now out of vogue?

[SoCalNative]

12. Not only were they at the wrong address

but the subject of the warrant had already been arrested prior to their raid.

[tblue37]

4. K&R for visibility. nt

[skypilot]

5. Jesus Christ!!!

Wrong house, wrong part of town, AND the person they were looking for was already in custody.

[2naSalit]

7. You noticed that part too?

This is unacceptable in every way possible.

[skypilot]

13. And then they SPRAY these two people and...

...what, from the article, sounds like every damned room in the house.

[Crunchy Frog]

6. Just another day in America.

I don't understand why the murderous pigs weren't charged with murder, other than that it happened in Kentucky.

[Solomon]

8. These things are death by a thousand cuts to me.

You can't imagine the rage that builds up inside me each time.

[Celerity]

9. Kentucky is a Castle Doctrine state and has a "stand your ground" law.

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/blog/kentucky-gun-laws-what-you-should-know/
https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/self-defense-and-stand-your-ground.aspx

A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat.

The three officers entered Taylor's home "without knocking and without announcing themselves as police officers," the suit states.

Walker, 27, was arrested and charged with attempted murder on a police officer.

FTP

[jimfields33]

14. I believe charges will be dropped or jury will find not guilty

The whole thing is ridiculous! It feels like a tv show script from Chicago PD. Unfortunately, it’s real life.

[Celerity]

15. If the jury is somehow all white, I doubt it. I think many, many whites (especially in

South) are going back to Jim Crow days, some with fucking murderous glee.

[jimfields33]

17. Ugh!

you are right. So many proven experiences to say that’s true.

[Celerity]

21. Trump has unleashed so many already-present hatreds, made them spring to life in millions

of daily interactions at far higher rates than they were, and they always were present.

[Fla Dem]

19. This is what happens when cops are trained as if they are in the military.

This is how assaults were conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Celerity]

23. Absolutely! MANY WERE trained in the military. The militarisation of the coppers is off the chain.

So many come back from the American theatres of war with PTSD as well, and end up lashing out within a few months or years of being hired straight in local police forces.


Militarization fails to enhance police safety or reduce crime but may harm police reputation

https://www.pnas.org/content/115/37/9181



The Case Against Police Militarization

https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1280&context=mjrl

[yonder]

26. +1.

[NutmegYankee]

43. Stand your ground doesn't apply

Defense of home is strictly castle doctrine. This gets confused with SYG, but is a centuries (almost a millennium) old principle of English Common Law that once you are in your home, you have no further duty to retreat.

[uponit7771]

11. We can't even get a f***n break during the plague !! Just damn

[a kennedy]

16. WTF???

Will it EVER end???

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

18. WTF?

[Calculating]

20. Oh come on

So sick of fucking incompetent cops.

[Celerity]

24. they are not systemically 'incompetent' for the agendas of many, the ones who look at the killing

and terrorising of us PoC as a feature, not a bug, and a positive one at that.

[Calculating]

36. It's not only POC though

Remember that story about the innocent guy who was killed in that 'swatting' incident because a cop 100 feet away with a rifle 'felt scared' and pulled the trigger? There were like 20 other cops there and only the one guy 'feared for his life' and shot the homeowner in his own doorway. No real consequences for the cop either, just a 'tragic accident'.

[Celerity]

38. Never said it was ONLY PoC, but this story is about one, and we are MUCH more likely to be targeted

by cops, much more likely to die or face lethal force when you tally up deaths versus encounters (cops often pay whites little to no mind in situs where we get the full on storming) and adjust for population/demographics.

[Brainfodder]

42. It's gross AF, and shows me how STILL poorly evolved human beings are.

Unfortunately, bad apples do grow on trees?

The obsession with tint of skin is just really dumb IMHO.

The hate fueling media and those that can't filter BS?

[Celerity]

44. humans are still tribal creatures, unfortunately, and the US is the most hyper-complex,

scientifically manipulated nation state on the planet. The bad actors have trillions of dollars backing them (and in their minds at stake) and will do ANYTHING to keep their collective whip-hand of control, no matter what horrendous suffering and death results from that. Aslo, what we call a tragedy is, for many of the worst on the white nationalist/oligarch uber alles train, a feature, NOT a bug. They know that all these 'cult of death and destruction' outcomes will occur and they embrace it with psychopathic enthusiasm. They love it like a child, as it IS their creation.

[niyad]

22. Heartsick KNR.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

25. Reads like a KKK execution.

[smirkymonkey]

27. This is so sad and fucked up I don't even know where to start.

[42bambi]

28. OMG. My tears are flowing ... flowing ... please make it stop. Someone ... please.

[saidsimplesimon]

30. We are the force to stop these criminal and cruel

members of our society. I've had enough of excusing those who tolerate those in our society who promote a zero sum game. We are the United States of America.

[Lucky Luciano]

29. This is way worse than the original story I read.

The first article I read didn’t say they were serving a warrant to THE WRONG FUCKING HOUSE! So it read like the boyfriend was the bad guy being served who tried to kill a cop.

[Iggo]

31. Cops.

Maybe we should get some brave ones.

[Mendocino]

32. The police screwed up big time,

so they tack on an attempted murder charge against the boyfriend for leverage.

[SergeStorms]

33. Will it never end?

I'm beyond words.

[Karadeniz]

34. Good lord...the police need to be charged and Walker released now that more facts are out.

[NutmegYankee]

48. He was released back in March.

The judge reduced his bond to just house arrest. Even the judge knows no jury is going to convict this man.

[Pepsidog]

35. Unbelievable. Such a shame.

[Doreen]

37. WTF!!!! JFC!!!

I no longer know what to say or think.

[Blue Owl]

39. W. T. F?

[Coventina]

41. .

[NutmegYankee]

45. The root of this problem is the growth of nighttime "no-knock" raids.

Consider this: The English crown would grant it's customs agents a "general warrant" allowing them to search any home or business for untaxed or contraband goods, but they could only use it during the day and only after they knocked to alert those inside that they were coming in. In response to this, Our Founders took up arms and shot other men down on the battlefield.

Meanwhile today, police can pull a warrant with garbage information, perform a military raid without knocking in the nighttime when a normal homeowner is asleep, and charge any homeowner who uses force with a crime. It's especially bad when one considers that people woken from deep sleep will experience the adrenaline surge of the "fight or flight" response and may not be alert enough (grogginess from deep sleep) to properly assess the situation, but they are expected to perform flawlessly in their recognition of the situation while police get constant breaks "because the job is dangerous".

[Aristus]

46. I guess this means the gloves have come off.

The pigs aren't even pretending to protect and serve anymore.

It's kill every black person you see, and hide behind your badge.

Fuck 'em all...

[Blue_Tires]

47. It never changes