Taylor family demands release of evidence in grand jury case
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Breonna Taylor’s family demanded Friday that state authorities release all body camera footage, police files and the transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that led to no charges being brought against police officers who killed the Blackwoman during a raid at her apartment.
The decision disappointed and angered those who have been demanding justice for Taylor the past six months, and protesters vowed to stay in the streets until all the officers involved are fired or someone is charged with her killing.
A diverse group, including Taylor’s mother, marched through Louisville on Friday evening. The protests have been peaceful, though at one point, police in riot gear fired flash bang devices to turn back those streaming through a street. Two were arrested.
Earlier, Taylor’s lawyers and family expressed dismay that no one has been held accountable for her death.
“I am an angry Blackwoman. I am not angry for the reasons that you would like me to be. But angry because our Black women keep dying at the hands of police officers — and Black men,” Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, wrote in a statement read by a relative.
She stood close by wearing a shirt that said, “I (heart) Louisville Police” with bullet holes in the heart emoji.
In her statement, Palmer said the criminal justice system had failed her, and state Attorney General Daniel Cameron was just the final person in the chain, af-ter the officer who sought a noknock warrant as part of a drug investigation, the judge who signed it, and police who burst into Taylor’s apartment.
The warrant was connected to a suspect who didn’t live there, and no drugs were found.
Taylor was shot multiple times by white officers after her boyfriend fired at them, authorities said. He said he didn’t know who was coming in and fired in selfdefense, wounding one officer. Cameron, the state’s first Black attorney general, said the officers weren’t charged with Taylor’s killing because they acted to protect themselves.
The grandjury indicted one officer on endangerment charges, saying he fired gunshots into a neighboring home that didn’t strike anyone. He has been fired.
“I hope you never know the pain of your child being murdered 191 days in a row,” said Bianca Austin, who wore her niece’s emergency medical technician jacket as she read Palmer’s statement.
Family attorney Sam Aguiar said that since Cameron is done investigating, all the videos should be released. He said he has seen dozens, most of which arem’t public.
Cameron “got so much wrong. We’ve seen so much piecemeal stuff come out throughout the case,” he said without giving specifics.
Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, also has urged the Republican attorney general to release what evidence he can.
Cameron said through a spokeswoman that he understood the family’s pain.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but prosecutors and grand jury members are bound by the facts and by the law,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Kuhn said in a statement.
As Taylor’s family criticized howthe casewas handled, aman accused of shooting and wounding two officers during protests Wednesday appeared in court.
A not-guilty plea was entered for Larynzo Johnson, 26, and bail was set at $1million. Attorney Zac Meihaus said the streets were “a war zone” when the shooting happened and said it would be difficult to “pinpoint” if Johnson fired the shots in question.
A prosecutor replied that a gun was recovered from Johnson, and there are video and witness accounts of the shooting. The officers are expected to recover.
Taylor’s case has become a rallying cry for protesters nationwide who are speaking out against racism and demanding police reforms.
Protesters marched through Louisville with a purple banner bearing Taylor’s name Friday. They danced and chanted, “Bow for Breonna.” Some handed out pizza or water, while others tried to register voters.
Juanita Baker, an attorney for Taylor’s family, said she hopes the crowd’s size and diversity sends amessage to political leaders.
“Solidarity is needed; there is power in numbers,” she said. “These are the people voting you in or out of office, or whowill one day run against you. You better take note.”
The police presence was light until protesters neared the city’s East Market section, a few blocks from the banks of the Ohio River. About a dozen police cruisers were parked under a highway overpass, and officers with clubs and face shields formed a semicircle blocking protesters’ path.
Police told people to move to the sidewalk. Officers deployed two flash bang rounds into the air, and the crowd moved away, police said in a statement. After that, and past the nighttime curfew, people gathered at the square and then a church, where officers weren’t seen.
The curfew in Louisville will last at least through the weekend, and the governor has called up the National Guard for “limited missions.”