Where Is the Justice for Breonna Taylor?
A grand jury indicted only one of the officers involved in her case— for reasons unrelated to her murder
For a country obsessed with law and order, the United States rarely provides justice for Black Americans who are murdered by the police. On Wednesday, six months after the police killing of Breonna Taylor, a grand jury indicted only one of the officers involved in her case: Brett Hankinson, who was fired by the Louisville Metro Police Department after the shooting. The other two officers, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove, were not indicted. Hankinson is facing three charges of “wanton endangerment,” a Class D felony that carries a penalty of one to five years in prison, for firing his weapon into the apartment next to Taylor’s.
All in all, the indictment means no murder charges were brought against anyone involved in the shooting of Taylor, one of the nearly 250 women killed in recent years by police. The absence of justice for the 26-year-old EMT is enraging but not surprising. It’s extremely rare for police officers to face consequences for any type of misconduct, including fatal shootings.
The case also underscores how little this country thinks of Black women. Taylor was sleeping in her home when she was fatally shot. Afterward…
