From [HERE] A white federal judge agreed to dismiss part of the most serious charge against two white police officers in Lousiville, Kentucky, accused of falsifying a search warrant that led to colleagues killing Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black medical worker, in her apartment in 2020.
Joshua Jaynes, a former Louisville Police Department detective, and Kyle Meany, a former Louisville sergeant, are accused of knowingly making false statements in their application to a judge for a "no knock" warrant to search Taylor's home.
Louisville police were investigating a man whom Taylor had previously dated, suspecting him of drug trafficking.
According to the wrongful death complaint filed on behalf of Taylor:
At 12:30 am on March 13, 2020 both Breonna Taylor and Kenneth Walker were asleep in their bedroom. While Breonna and Kenneth were sleeping peacefully, the three Defendants arrived in their neighborhood in plain clothes in unmarked vehicles. These defendants were working within the criminal interdiction unit of the Louisville Metro Police Department.
The Defendants had a knock and announce search warrant for Breonna’s apartment, where the officers were searching for Jamarcus Glover who lived in a different part of Louisville. LMPD was successful in locating Glover at his home, detaining him, executing a search, identifying drugs and firearms, and arresting Glover.
Glover was located and identified by LMPD prior to the warrant being executed at home. Despite this, the Defendants elected to proceed with executing the warrant at home.
As confirmed by multiple neighbors, the Defendant officers did not knock or identify themselves prior to entering Breonna’s home.
Knocking and announcing is critical for a warrant of this nature to be executed safely. Reasons include but are not limited to the following:
The officers were in plain clothes;
It was 12:40 in the morning;
The home was part of a large unit of connected homes containing children;
There was nothing to indicate that Breonna Taylor and Kenneth would flee or
pose an unreasonable danger if the officers knocked and identified themselves
as police; and
Individuals, under several circumstances, have a lawful right to use deadly force
in order to defend against those who enter their home.
The Defendant officers breached the front door and entered the home without knocking and without announcing themselves.
Breonna and Kenneth were awakened by the Defendants’ unannounced entry into their home. They believed that their home had been broken into by criminals and that they were in significant, imminent danger.
Kenneth proceeded to call 911.
The Defendant officers fired their weapons into Breonna’s home repeatedly. The Defendants fired several shots into the home from outside on the patio.
The living room was obscured by curtains; the officers could not see anything inside the home (past the curtains) within their line of fire when shooting into the home through the glass. The Defendants fired several shots into the home from outside of the second bedroom window. The second bedroom window was obscured by a screen and blinds; there was no way that the officers could have had a reasonable line of sight when firing into the home from outside this window.
The Defendants did not have discretion to shoot blindly into Breonna’s home in this manner. The Defendants’ gunshots struck objects in the home’s living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, hallway and both bedrooms.
Several of the Defendants’ gunshots traveled into the adjacent home, where a five- year-old child and pregnant mother were located.
Breonna was shot several times by the Defendants. Breonna was unarmed when she was shot repeatedly. Breonna posed no threat to the officers when she was shot repeatedly.
The Defendant officers acted intentionally, knowingly, unreasonably, maliciously, negligently, recklessly, and in bad faith with deliberate indifference to the safety and rights of Breonna Taylor when they attempted to execute a warrant without the SWAT unit, proceeded with executing the warrant without probable cause, entered the home unannounced, entered the home without permission, entered the home without complying with the terms of the warrant, engaged in erratic gunfire and fired at Breonna, who was unarmed and posed no threat, in an intentional, erratic and deadly manner. These actions were objectively unreasonable.
The officers failed to use any sound reasonable judgment whatsoever when firing more than 25 blind shots into multiple homes and causing the wrongful death of Breonna. [MORE]
