Fatal Ky. police raid fuels call to stop ‘no knock’ warrants
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It’s the stuff of nightmares: Breonna Taylor and her boyfriend were in bed when a trio of armed men smashed through the front door. Gunfire erupted, killing the 26-year-old black woman.
The three men turned out to be plainclothes police detectives, one of whom was wounded in the chaos that March night.
Taylor’s death led to protests and a review of how Louisville police use “no knock” search warrants, which allow officers to enter a home without announcing their presence, often in drug cases to prevent suspects from getting rid of a stash.
Taylor’s name is one of those being chanted during nationwide protests decrying police killings of black people.
The unrest began after the death last month of George Floyd, a black man who pleaded he couldn’t breathe as a white Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground with a knee.
More than two months after Taylor’s death, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced last week that the police department’s use of no-knock warrants has been suspended indefinitely.
Civil rights advocates are calling for a ban, though Florida and Oregon are the only states that have outlawed such warrants.
Fischer changed the policy after an outcry from Taylor’s family and members sued the department and the three officers who served the warrant.
The new policy requires Louisville’s police chief to sign off on no-knock warrants before they go to a judge.
“These changes, and more to come should signal that I hear the community and we will continue to make improvements anywhere that we can,” Fischer said.
The three detectives had a no-knock warrant when they busted down the door of Taylor’s apartment after midnight March 13. They were investigating a drug dealer named Jamarcus Glover, who was arrested elsewhere the same day, police said.
Police said Glover was using Taylor’s address to receive packages they believed could be drugs. No drugs were found at her apartment.
Tom Wine, the city’s top criminal prosecutor, said he believes police knocked and announced their presence.
“Simply because the police get a no-knock warrant does not mean they can’t knock and announce,” Wine said last week.
But the lawsuit filed on behalf of Taylor’s mother says neighbors didn’t hear the detectives knock or identify themselves as officers before they crashed into the apartment.
Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, told investigators that he thought he was being robbed or that it might be an ex-boyfriend of Taylor’s trying to get in.
Walker told police he heard knocking but didn’t know who it was.
He said he and Taylor were moving toward the door when it was knocked down, so he fired a shot that hit an officer.
Authorities had charged Walker with attempted murder but dropped the case last week.
Wine said he wanted to let state and federal authorities complete their review of the shooting.
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky has urged city leaders to ban no-knock warrants, saying they lead to the deaths of innocent people.
A 2014 ACLU report on police militarization detailed several botched SWAT team raids as noknock warrants were served, including one that year in Georgia that ended with a toddler in a medically induced coma.