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Dismay
over
Breonna
Taylor
spills
into
America's
streets
By
DYLAN
LOVAN,
PIPER
HUDSPETH
BLACKBURN
and
JOHN
MINCHILLO
apnews.com
LOUISVILLE,
Ky. -
Anger,
frustration
and
sadness
over the
decision
not to
charge
Kentucky
police
officers
for
Breonna
Taylor’s
death
poured
into
America’s
streets
as
protesters
lashed
out at a
criminal
justice
system
they say
is
stacked
against
Black
people.
Violence
seized
the
demonstrations
in her
hometown
of
Louisville
as
gunfire
rang out
and
wounded
two
police
officers.
Activists,
celebrities
and
everyday
Americans
have
been
calling
for
charges
since
Taylor,
an
emergency
medical
worker,
was shot
multiple
times by
white
officers
after
one of
them was
shot
while
bursting
into her
home
during a
narcotics
investigation
in
March.
The
officers
had a
no-knock
warrant
but the
investigation
showed
they
announced
themselves
before
entering,
said
state
Attorney
General
Daniel
Cameron,
a
Republican
and the
state’s
first
Black
top
prosecutor.
A
grand
jury
returned
three
charges
of
wanton
endangerment
Wednesday
against
fired
Officer
Brett
Hankison
over
shooting
into a
home
next to
Taylor’s
with
people
inside.
Hundreds
of
demonstrators
chanted
Taylor’s
name and
marched
in
cities
including
New
York,
Washington,
D.C.,
Philadelphia,
Las
Vegas
and
Portland,
Oregon.
People
gathered
in
downtown
Chicago’s
Millennium
Park,
chanting
demands
for
justice
as
drivers
on
Michigan
Avenue
honked
their
horns.
Police
in
Atlanta
unleashed
chemical
agents
and made
arrests
after
some
protesters
tried to
climb on
a SWAT
vehicle.
In
Minnesota
and
Wisconsin,
marchers
peacefully
blocked
highway
traffic.
ratio
Youtube
video
thumbnail
In
Louisville,
police
said
they
arrested
127
people
after
what
began as
peaceful
protests.
Officers
declared
an
unlawful
assembly
after
they
said
fires
were set
in
garbage
cans and
several
vehicles
were
damaged.
A police
statement
also
described
the
“looting”
of
several
stores.
Interim
Police
Chief
Robert
Schroeder
said a
suspect
was
detained
in the
shooting
of two
officers,
who are
expected
to
recover
from
their
wounds.
Taylor’s
case has
exposed
the wide
gulf
between
public
opinion
on
justice
for
those
who kill
Black
Americans
and the
laws
under
which
those
officers
are
charged,
which
regularly
favor
police
and do
not
often
result
in steep
criminal
accusations.
Carmen
Jones
has
protested
in
downtown
Louisville
every
day for
nearly
three
months.
She said
she
feels
despair
after
the
grand
jury’s
decision
and
doesn’t
know
what’s
coming.
“We’re
tired of
being
hashtags.
We’re
tired of
paying
for
history
in our
blood
and our
bodies
and
being
told to
respond
to this
violence
and
aggression
with
peace,”
she
said.
“We did
it the
Martin
way for
the
entire
summer,
and it
got us
nowhere.
Maybe
it’s
time to
do
things
the
Malcolm
way.”
Jones
said she
still
hopes
their
demonstrations
will
lead to
systemwide
change
in the
U.S.,
but the
decision
in
Taylor’s
case
makes
her feel
like her
life
doesn’t
matter
in
America.
“I
don’t
think
I’ll
sleep
the same
ever
again,
cause it
would
happen
to any
of us,”
she
said.
“The
system
does not
care
about
Black
people.
The
system
chews
Black
people
up and
spits us
out.”
Along
with
George
Floyd, a
Black
man
killed
by
police
in
Minneapolis
in May,
Taylor’s
name
became a
rallying
cry
during
nationwide
protests
that
called
attention
to
entrenched
racism
and
demanded
police
reform.
Her
image is
painted
on
streets,
emblazoned
on
protest
signs
and
silk-screened
on
T-shirts
worn by
celebrities.
The
FBI is
still
investigating
potential
violations
of
federal
law in
connection
with the
raid at
Taylor’s
home on
March
13.
After
the
announcement,
Ben
Crump, a
lawyer
for
Taylor’s
family,
denounced
the
decision
as
“outrageous
and
offensive.”
Protesters
shouting,
“No
justice,
no
peace!”
took to
the
streets,
while
others
sat
quietly
and
wept.
Morgan
Julianna
Lee, a
high
school
student
in
Charlotte,
North
Carolina,
watched
the
announcement
at home.
“It’s
almost
like a
slap in
the
face,”
the
15-year-old
said by
phone.
“If I,
as a
Black
woman,
ever
need
justice,
I will
never
get it.”
Authorities
themselves
expressed
dismay.
At a
news
conference,
Cameron,
the
attorney
general,
said,
“Criminal
law is
not
meant to
respond
to every
sorrow
and
grief.”
“But
my heart
breaks
for the
loss of
Miss
Taylor.
... My
mother,
if
something
was to
happen
to me,
would
find it
very
hard,”
he
added,
choking
up.
However,
Cameron
said the
officers
acted in
self-defense
after
Taylor’s
boyfriend
fired at
them.
Kenneth
Walker
told
police
he heard
knocking
but
didn’t
know who
was
coming
in and
fired in
self-defense.
The
warrant
was
connected
to a
suspect
who did
not live
there,
and no
drugs
were
found
inside.
The city
has
since
banned
such
warrants.
“According
to
Kentucky
law, the
use of
force by
(Officers
Jonathan)
Mattingly
and
(Myles)
Cosgrove
was
justified
to
protect
themselves,”
Cameron
said.
“This
justification
bars us
from
pursuing
criminal
charges
in Miss
Breonna
Taylor’s
death.”
President
Donald
Trump
read a
statement
from
Cameron,
saying
“justice
is not
often
easy.”
He later
tweeted
that he
was
“praying
for the
two
police
officers
that
were
shot.”
Democratic
presidential
candidate
Joe
Biden
and his
running
mate,
Kamala
Harris,
called
for
policing
reform.
Biden
says
that
while a
federal
investigation
continues,
“we do
not need
to wait
for the
final
judgment
of that
investigation
to do
more to
deliver
justice
for
Breonna.”
He said
the
country
should
start by
addressing
excessive
force,
banning
chokeholds
and
overhauling
no-knock
warrants.
“We
must
never
stop
speaking
Breonna’s
name as
we work
to
reform
our
justice
system,
including
overhauling
no-knock
warrants,”
Harris
said on
Twitter.
Hankison
was
fired on
June 23.
The
three
wanton
endangerment
charges
he faces
each
carry a
sentence
of up to
five
years. A
termination
letter
said he
had
violated
procedures
by
showing
“extreme
indifference
to the
value of
human
life”
when he
“wantonly
and
blindly”
fired
his
weapon.
CNN
reported
that his
attorney,
David
Leightty,
declined
to
comment.
Last
week,
the city
settled
a
lawsuit
against
the
three
officers
brought
by
Taylor’s
mother,
Tamika
Palmer,
agreeing
to pay
her $12
million
and
enact
police
reforms.
___
Lovan
reported
from
Frankfort,
Kentucky.
Associated
Press
writers
Claire
Galofaro,
Bruce
Schreiner
and
Rebecca
Reynolds
Yonker
in
Louisville,
Kentucky,
Kevin
Freking
in
Washington,
Aaron
Morrison
in New
York and
Haleluya
Hadero
in
Lancaster,
Pennsylvania,
contributed.
___
Hudsbeth
Blackburn
is a
corps
member
for the
Associated
Press/Report
for
America
Statehouse
News
Initiative.
Report
for
America
is a
nonprofit
national
service
program
that
places
journalists
in local
newsrooms
to
report
on
undercovered
issues.
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