Black homes targets of ‘no-knock’ warrants
In Ky., Breonna Taylor died after such a search
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Police disproportionately targeted Black residents for “no-knock” search warrants like the one that led officers to Breonna Taylor’s door the night they fatally shot her, an analysis shows.
The findings by the Louisville Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, echo the concerns of civil rights advocates and experts who say no-knock warrants are used more frequently against Black and brown Americans.
“The common factors are the poor and people of color – in a highly disproportionate way,” said Peter Kraska, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University who has testified before the U.S. Senate on law enforcement’s use of military tactics and equipment.
In the past two years, before the city banned them in June, Louisville Metro Police Department officers received court approval for at least 27 no-knock warrants – allowing police to legally break in to homes without first knocking, announcing themselves and waiting for residents to respond, usually about 30 seconds.
An analysis by the Courier Journal showed that for 22 of those warrants, 82% of the listed suspects were Black and 68% were for addresses in the West End, a section of Louisville with predominantly Black neighborhoods. Several of the warrants remain sealed by a judge.
State Rep. Attica Scott, sponsor of Breonna’s Law, which would ban noknock search warrants statewide, said the findings are another example of overpolicing in Louisville’s Black communities.
“Policing has historically, and continues to be, racially disparate,” she said. “It’s not mentally, emotionally, physically or spiritually healthy for people to live in fear of law enforcement or to cringe when they see them coming.”
The warrants are a fraction of the thousands of search warrants the LMPD serves each year. In 2019, the department conducted more than 3,000 court-authorized searches.
Supporters of no-knocks said they help protect officers searching for potentially dangerous suspects who might be armed.
In 17 of the no-knock warrants the Courier Journal analyzed, LMPD officers cited a history of violence or the possibility of weapons as the reason for the request – arguing the element of surprise was crucial so police didn’t walk into an ambush.
In at least 15 searches, officers reported finding firearms or drugs, according to inventory logs attached to the warrants.
LMPD declined an interview for this story, offering an emailed statement saying the department is “aware of the varying opinions regarding no-knock warrants.”
“Since Metro Council has passed an ordinance prohibiting their use by LMPD,” wrote Sgt. John Bradley, an LMPD spokesman, “discussions on the merits and disadvantages of this tactic have been rendered moot for us.”
Searches in which police knock, announce and quickly break down a door can cause as much harm as no-knock entries, Kraska said.
In October 2018, a Louisville SWAT team with a search warrant used a battering ram and a flash-bang grenade to get the Daugherty family out of their West End home, so police could search for marijuana.
The family’s lawsuit in 2019 alleged police didn’t have probable cause for the warrant, which was based on “materially false statements.”
“In some instances, I’m sure they found whatever they were looking for,” said Sadiqa Reynolds, president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League and a frequent critic of LMPD tactics. “Think about the times when they haven’t found anything and the trauma on those families.”
In a statement, Mayor Greg Fischer said he expects all city employees to be committed to fairness and equity. He said he supported banning no-knock warrants.
“The danger which no-knock warrants pose to both civilians and police officers is greater than any benefit,” Fischer spokeswoman Jean Porter said. “The top-to-bottom review of LMPD that is underway will look at current policies, procedures and protocols LMPD uses.”
The Courier Journal found Black residents have been disproportionately targeted for no-knock searches the past two years: 23 of the 28 suspects LMPD identified in the analyzed noknock warrants were Black, about 82%.
Seventy percent of Jefferson County’s 750,000 residents are white.
Black residents also were disproportionately targeted for search warrants without no-knock provisions, the Courier Journal found.
A sampling of 356 search warrants for 2019 showed 243 suspects identified by race. Of that group, 48% were Black and 48% were white, the analysis found.
Bradley, the LMPD spokesman, said race isn’t a factor in requesting search warrants.
“Each search warrant is based on the evidence surrounding an individual case and gives no consideration to the targeting of any specific race of person, nor geographic area within the city,” he said.
‘We may be getting robbed’
Ashlea Burr and Mario Daugherty and their three children live in a part of the city targeted more frequently in LMPD’s search warrants.
They can vouch for the terror they can generate.
On the morning of Oct. 26, 2018, SWAT officers arrived at the door.
Within moments, officers broke the glass on their front door, busted it open with a battering ram and shouted they were police with a search warrant. Weapons drawn, officers threw in a flash-bang grenade.
Smoke filled the home as the family screamed.
“We were confused and first thought we may be getting robbed,” Burr and Daugherty wrote, through their attorney, to the Courier Journal. “We were scared and kept thinking that one of our family members was going to be killed.”
As police called out family members from the front, one of the 14-year-old girls ran through a back door. SWAT officers in the alley pointed weapons at her and told her to get on the ground.
Burr and Daugherty sued the city in October 2019.
LMPD declined to comment on the lawsuit or the raid. In a court filing in response to the lawsuit, the city’s attorneys denied the allegations and wrote “bags of marijuana were found during the search” but were not “packaged for sale.”
U.S. District Court Judge David Hale granted the city’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit this month.
“The facts alleged in the complaint are egregious,” he wrote in his ruling. “Those factual allegations do not support plaintiffs’ claim against Louisville Metro, however.”
The attorney for the family filed an amended lawsuit.
Though the search warrant did not contain a no-knock provision, body camera footage shows police essentially treated it as one – breaking in the door at the same time they announced themselves, giving the family no time to react.
“Nobody should have their home raided by 18 SWAT officers with assault rifles pointed at their children, especially people who don’t represent any danger,” Burr and Daugherty said in their statement.
Breonna Taylor search warrant
The no-knock search warrant that brought seven LMPD officers to Taylor’s apartment door shortly before 1 a.m. March 13 has been criticized locally and nationally.
Police said they requested the warrant as part of a larger narcotics investigation, seeking cash and drugs they suspected Taylor held for Jamarcus Glover, her ex-boyfriend and a convicted drug trafficker.
Officers said they decided not to use the no-knock provision and knocked on Taylor’s door, shouting, “Police!” Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who was inside the apartment with her, said he never heard police announce themselves.
When officers forced their way in, Walker fired one shot from his legally owned handgun, which police said struck Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the thigh.
Mattingly and Detectives Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison fired back 32 times, hitting Taylor, who wasn’t armed, six times, killing her.
No cash or drugs were recovered from her apartment.
The Courier Journal’s review of 22 no-knock warrants, including for Taylor’s apartment, showed five were connected to drug raids March 13 centered on the West End.
The no-knock provisions were needed, officers said, because the suspects had a history of destroying evidence. They mentioned cameras that could “compromise detectives” as they approached.
There were no surveillance cameras at Taylor’s apartment.
After the Louisville Metro Council voted to ban the use of no-knock warrants in June, several states, including Kentucky, filed bills that would outlaw them.
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., filed similar legislation in Congress.