Protesters say Taylor won't get justice until cops fired, convicted
LOUISVILLE, Ky .— Protesters who've spent more than 110 days calling for justice for Breonna Taylor said a $12 million settlement that includes several police reforms is a step toward closure for the city and the 26-year-old's family.
But they won't be satisfied until the officers who shot and killed the unarmed Black woman are fired and criminally charged in relation to her death, several protesters said following the announcement.
“Yes, it's a pretty decent settlement. Breonna's family deserves that and a million times more,” said Delaney Haley, a community organizer who has been a regular at local protests.
“But we won't have true justice until the cops who did that have to face some kind of repercussions. Fire, arrest, indict, convict. It's just that simple.”
The demand has remained consistent since protests began in Louisville on May 28, more than two months after Taylor was killed during a failed narcotics investigation at her south Louisville apartment.
And several protesters said any settlement seems like a “slap in the face” as long as officers involved in Taylor's death remain on the city's payroll.
Officer Bret Hankison was fired in June for his role in the shooting. However, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and officer Myles Cosgrove, who also fired shots at Taylor's home, as well as Detective Joshua Jaynes, who applied for a “noknock” search warrant at her address, remain on administrative reassignment.
“It still does not give closure to that mother who wakes up every day knowing that the men who killed her daughter are getting paid off the backs of taxpayers,” said Shemaeka Shaw, founder of Broken Hearted Homes Renters Association, a community organization that works to prevent evictions.
City officials and attorneys for Taylor's family announced the settlement during a press conference Tuesday, where Fischer l aid out a series of reforms around search warrants, community relations and police accountability.
There forms include establishing a housing credit program that inc en ti viz es officers to live within certain low-income census tr acts; retaining social workers to support and assist officers on dispatched runs; and requiring a commanding officer to review and approve all search warrants before an officer seeks judicial approval.