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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBlack woman shot and killed after Kentucky police entered her home as she slept, family says
A black woman was asleep in her Louisville, Kentucky, home when three police officers forced their way inside, "blindly fired" and killed her, according to a lawsuit filed by the woman's family. Breonna Taylor, an EMT worker, died on March 13 after officers with the Louisville Metro Police Department executed a search warrant at the wrong home, the suit states.
The officers were looking for a suspect who lived in a different part of the city and was already in police custody after he was arrested earlier.
The lawsuit states that Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were asleep in the bedroom when police in plain clothes and unmarked vehicles arrived at the house around 12:30 a.m. The three officers entered Taylor's home "without knocking and without announcing themselves as police officers," the suit states.
The lawsuit says Taylor and Walker woke up and thought criminals were breaking in. Walker called 911 and police said he opened fire (at the unknown intruders) and shot an officer. The suit states that Walker had a license to carry and kept firearms in the home for protection.
"The police then proceeded to spray gunfire into the residence with a total disregard for the value of human life," the lawsuit alleges. "Shots were blindly fired by the officers all throughout Breonna's home." Taylor, 26, was shot eight times and died. Walker, 27, was arrested and charged with attempted murder on a police officer.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-woman-shot-killed-after-kentucky-police-entered-her-home-n1205651
mcar
(42,403 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(22,467 posts)Coventina
(27,215 posts)Jamastiene
(38,187 posts)I'm not sure of the laws there, but in NC, that's castle doctrine. Homeowners have a right to defend ourselves. What a senseless death and a senseless arrest as well.
She was shot eight times, while she was asleep? I cannot think of any excuse those cops can come up with that would justify any of their actions. They caused this crap by doing everything wrong.
Newest Reality
(12,712 posts)Are warrants now out of vogue?
SoCalNative
(4,613 posts)but the subject of the warrant had already been arrested prior to their raid.
tblue37
(65,502 posts)skypilot
(8,854 posts)Wrong house, wrong part of town, AND the person they were looking for was already in custody.
2naSalit
(86,843 posts)This is unacceptable in every way possible.
skypilot
(8,854 posts)...what, from the article, sounds like every damned room in the house.
Crunchy Frog
(26,683 posts)I don't understand why the murderous pigs weren't charged with murder, other than that it happened in Kentucky.
Solomon
(12,319 posts)You can't imagine the rage that builds up inside me each time.
Celerity
(43,590 posts)https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/self-defense-and-stand-your-ground.aspx
The three officers entered Taylor's home "without knocking and without announcing themselves as police officers," the suit states.
FTP
jimfields33
(16,018 posts)The whole thing is ridiculous! It feels like a tv show script from Chicago PD. Unfortunately, its real life.
Celerity
(43,590 posts)South) are going back to Jim Crow days, some with fucking murderous glee.
jimfields33
(16,018 posts)Celerity
(43,590 posts)of daily interactions at far higher rates than they were, and they always were present.
Fla Dem
(23,785 posts)This is how assaults were conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Celerity
(43,590 posts)So many come back from the American theatres of war with PTSD as well, and end up lashing out within a few months or years of being hired straight in local police forces.
Militarization fails to enhance police safety or reduce crime but may harm police reputation
https://www.pnas.org/content/115/37/9181
The Case Against Police Militarization
https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1280&context=mjrl
NutmegYankee
(16,201 posts)Defense of home is strictly castle doctrine. This gets confused with SYG, but is a centuries (almost a millennium) old principle of English Common Law that once you are in your home, you have no further duty to retreat.
uponit7771
(90,367 posts)a kennedy
(29,723 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,304 posts)Calculating
(2,957 posts)So sick of fucking incompetent cops.
Celerity
(43,590 posts)and terrorising of us PoC as a feature, not a bug, and a positive one at that.
Calculating
(2,957 posts)Remember that story about the innocent guy who was killed in that 'swatting' incident because a cop 100 feet away with a rifle 'felt scared' and pulled the trigger? There were like 20 other cops there and only the one guy 'feared for his life' and shot the homeowner in his own doorway. No real consequences for the cop either, just a 'tragic accident'.
Celerity
(43,590 posts)by cops, much more likely to die or face lethal force when you tally up deaths versus encounters (cops often pay whites little to no mind in situs where we get the full on storming) and adjust for population/demographics.
Brainfodder
(6,423 posts)Unfortunately, bad apples do grow on trees?
The obsession with tint of skin is just really dumb IMHO.
The hate fueling media and those that can't filter BS?
Celerity
(43,590 posts)scientifically manipulated nation state on the planet. The bad actors have trillions of dollars backing them (and in their minds at stake) and will do ANYTHING to keep their collective whip-hand of control, no matter what horrendous suffering and death results from that. Aslo, what we call a tragedy is, for many of the worst on the white nationalist/oligarch uber alles train, a feature, NOT a bug. They know that all these 'cult of death and destruction' outcomes will occur and they embrace it with psychopathic enthusiasm. They love it like a child, as it IS their creation.
niyad
(113,628 posts)Hermit-The-Prog
(33,484 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)42bambi
(1,753 posts)saidsimplesimon
(7,888 posts)members of our society. I've had enough of excusing those who tolerate those in our society who promote a zero sum game. We are the United States of America.
Lucky Luciano
(11,264 posts)The first article I read didnt say they were serving a warrant to THE WRONG FUCKING HOUSE! So it read like the boyfriend was the bad guy being served who tried to kill a cop.
Iggo
(47,578 posts)Maybe we should get some brave ones.
Mendocino
(7,514 posts)so they tack on an attempted murder charge against the boyfriend for leverage.
SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)I'm beyond words.
Karadeniz
(22,587 posts)NutmegYankee
(16,201 posts)The judge reduced his bond to just house arrest. Even the judge knows no jury is going to convict this man.
Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)Doreen
(11,686 posts)I no longer know what to say or think.
Blue Owl
(50,532 posts)Coventina
(27,215 posts)NutmegYankee
(16,201 posts)Consider this: The English crown would grant it's customs agents a "general warrant" allowing them to search any home or business for untaxed or contraband goods, but they could only use it during the day and only after they knocked to alert those inside that they were coming in. In response to this, Our Founders took up arms and shot other men down on the battlefield.
Meanwhile today, police can pull a warrant with garbage information, perform a military raid without knocking in the nighttime when a normal homeowner is asleep, and charge any homeowner who uses force with a crime. It's especially bad when one considers that people woken from deep sleep will experience the adrenaline surge of the "fight or flight" response and may not be alert enough (grogginess from deep sleep) to properly assess the situation, but they are expected to perform flawlessly in their recognition of the situation while police get constant breaks "because the job is dangerous".
Aristus
(66,478 posts)The pigs aren't even pretending to protect and serve anymore.
It's kill every black person you see, and hide behind your badge.
Fuck 'em all...