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Over 3 months after Breonna Taylor's death, one police officer has finally been fired, but not arrested

Over 3 months after Breonna Taylor's death, one police officer has finally been fired, but not arrested
AFP / Jason Connolly

One of the officers who shot Breonna Taylor in a “no-knock” sting at her home, and who “blindly fired” into the house in the middle of the night has now been fired.

Detective Brett Hankison, one of the police officers involved, acted in “extreme violations of the department’s policies, ” acting Louisville Metro Police chief Robert Schroeder wrote in a termination letter dated 19 June.

Hankison “displayed an extreme indifference to the value of human life” by “wantonly and blindly” firing ten shots into Taylor’s home on 13 March, the letter continued.

I find your conduct a shock to the conscience,

Schroeder wrote, and continued:

I am alarmed and stunned you used deadly force in this fashion.

Breonna Taylor, 26, was an emergency medical technician and died on 13 March in her home in Louisville, Kentucky, after being shot eight times by police.

A lawsuit, filed by the family’s attorney Ben Crump, claimed that Taylor and her boyfriend were asleep in the bedroom when police in plain clothes and unmarked vehicles arrived at the house around 12:30am.

Three officers then entered Taylor's home reportedly without knocking and without announcing themselves as police officers.

According to the lawsuit, the Louisville Metro Police Department were at the wrong house.

Hankison is also currently under investigation for sexual assault after claims were made against the officer by multiple women who say he offered them rides home from bars in his marked car, and then aggressively grabbed them.

One woman described him as “a predator of the worst kind,” and another claims Hankinson rubbed her thigh, kissed her forehead and called her baby while driving her home, according to WVLTV Knoxville.

Sam Aguiar, an attorney for Taylor’s family, said “it’s about damn time” Hankison was fired. But he also made it clear that the family wants charges.

He said:

If this wasn’t wanton murder and attempted murder, then I don’t know what the hell would be,

And continued:

We expect and demand these charges. Lots of explaining to do if they don’t come.

The Attorney General of Kentucky is also conducting an investigation into the behaviour of the officers involved in the shooting.

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