After the grand jury ruled that only one officer involved in the death of Breonna Taylor be charged with endangerment, meaning that no officer present at the scene has been charged for murder, Taylor’s family held a press conference condemning and protesting the results.
During an emotional press conference, Breonna’s sister Bianca read a written statement in front of a cloud of reporters from across the nation. In it, the family characterized the police officers as terrorists who caused Breonna’s death and expressed great anger at the ruling.
One of the prime targets of the announcement was Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Breonna’s mother said she had no faith that Cameron would do the right thing although he knew he had the authority to correct the wrongs. Asking the grand jury was the first misstep, according to the family.
In an address that sent Louisville and other major cities around the US into a wave of protests, AG Cameron only indicted Brett Hankison for wanton endangerment for firing at the neighbors. The shootings inside Taylor’s house was justified as self-defense by the grand jury.
Ben Crump, who has been representing the Taylor family, said he found the ruling to be cruel irony. Crump argued that it tells a lot about the court that Hankison was charged for missing his shots whereas he got to walk free for fatally shooting at Taylor at her own place.
The findings of the 5 months investigation likely would have caused a firestorm amidst heightened racial tensions around the US. In fact, the Kentucky police had issued an emergency hours before Cameron’s address as they expected protests to break out.
The AG was not the only target of the pointed statement from the Taylor family. They accused everyone from those who first drafted the no-knock warrant to the judge who approved the warrant and the actual officers who entered as culprits to a racist system.
Both Crump and Kentucky’s Democratic governor Andy Beshear asked that Cameron release all the pertinent information online. Crump argued that this is necessary to see if anyone was speaking for Taylor, or if the system had been rigged from the start.
Share with us your thoughts on this news, and be sure to follow us on Facebook for more news like this one.
Replaced!