Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Many ask what’s next in Breonna Taylor case
In the wake of the decision not to prosecute Kentucky police officers for killing Breonna Taylor, authorities and activists alike wrestled Thursday with the question of what comes next amid continued demands for justice in the Black woman’s death.
“The question obviously is: What do we do with this pain?” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said during a news conference. “There is no one answer, no easy answer to that question.”
Fischer pleaded for calm a day after peaceful protests in Louisville turned violent, and a gunman shot and wounded two police officers. Activists vowed to press on with their cause after a grand jury Wednesday failed to bring homicide charges against the officers who burst into Taylor’s apartment during a drug investigation in March.
Taylor, an emergency medical worker, was shot multiple times by white officers after Taylor’s boyfriend fired on them, according to authorities. Police entered on a warrant connected to a suspect who did not live there, and no drugs were found inside.
State Attorney General Daniel Cameron said the investigation showed officers were acting in self-defense; one was wounded. A single officer was charged Wednesday with wanton endangerment for firing into neighboring apartments.
The only possibility for criminal charges against the officers for the killing itself now seems to rest with the U.S. Justice Department. The FBI is still investigating whether Taylor’s civil rights were violated. But the burden of proof for such cases is very high, with prosecutors having to prove officers knew they were acting illegally and made a willful decision to cause someone’s death.
The Justice Department has said a “mistake, fear, misperception or even poor judgment does not constitute willful conduct prosecutable under the statute.”
Returning Thursday to the park in downtown Louisville that has been the hub for protesters, Reginique Jones said she’ll keep pressing for increased police accountability and for a statewide ban on “no-knock” warrants — the kind issued in the Taylor case, though Cameron said the investigation showed police did announce themselves before entering.
“I believe that we are going to get past this,” Jones said. “We can still get some justice.”
Taylor’s family planned to weigh in at a news conference scheduled for Friday morning in the park that’s become known as Injustice Square.
Demonstrators continued to gather there Thursday, while others marched through downtown.
Kenyatta Hicks said he’s encouraged by increasingly diverse crowds that have turned out to protest.
“Nobody should give up,” Hicks said.
Activists, celebrities and everyday Americans have called for charges against police since Taylor’s death. Along with George Floyd, a Black man killed by police in Minneapolis, Taylor’s name became a rallying cry during nationwide protests this summer that drew attention to entrenched racism and demanded police reform.
The grand jury’s decision set off a new wave of protests in U.S. cities, some of them marred by violence.