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Thousands of people protested this Wednesday in the American city of Louisville after justice limited itself to indicting, and indirectly, only one of the policemen involved in the shooting that caused the death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman whose name has become an emblem of the anti-racist movement.
Brett Hankison, One of the three agents involved in the shooting was charged with endangering the lives of others, in this case three of the victim’s neighbors.
But neither Hankison nor the other two police officers who fired the shots that killed Taylor were charged with the murder of the 26-year-old nurse.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Louisville, the main city of the state of Kentucky, after the indictment announcement, to denounce the police abuses against the black minority.
An important police force was deployed in this town of 600,000 inhabitants and several people were arrested in the afternoon. Some businesses in the center protected their facades in fear of a wave of violence unleashed by the decision.
The municipality, which called the population to calm down, declared a state of emergency and instituted a curfew.
Hankison fired ten bullets, some of which hit the apartment next to Breonna Taylor’s, “putting three people in grave danger of physical injury or death,” according to the State Attorney Daniel Cameron.
Confused cops for robbers
His other two colleagues, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, who had been dismissed in June, were not charged with any charge, having, according to the prosecutor, acted in a state of legitimate defense.
According to local media, Hankison appeared in a jail in the region and was later released after paying a fee. $ 15,000 bond, a very low sum in relation to similar cases. Fired by Louisville police in June, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
Breonna Taylor died on the night of March 13, after the three policemen came to her home with a special search warrant that allowed them to enter her home without warning.
Upon arrival, the victim’s boyfriend opened fire on the officers, and they replied with their weapons and several shots hit Taylor.
Taylor’s boyfriend claimed he had mistaken the cops for thieves, but the officers claimed to have announced their presence before entering, a version confirmed by a witness, according to prosecutor Cameron.
The investigation did not determine which of the police officers killed the woman.
“Under Kentucky law, the use of force [por los agentes] Mattingly and Cosgrove is justified because they protected themselves, ”said the prosecutor.
Curfew
“Sister; the system you worked so hard for left you, “he reacted on Instagram Juniyah palmer, Breonna’s sister.
Taylor family attorney, Ben Crump, he noted his outrage at the charges.
“This constitutes a new example of the absence of responsibility for the genocide of people of color perpetrated by the police,” he said in a statement.
“It is ironic and typical that the only charges in this case are gunshots fired in the apartment of a white neighbor,” while the one who was killed was a black person, he added.
Taylor’s death did not garner much media attention at the time, but the case gained notoriety after the massive anti-racism demonstrations that swept through the country after the African-American George Floyd drowned under the body of a police officer in late May in Minneapolis.
“I know that the charges announced today will not please everyone,” admitted prosecutor Cameron, who confessed to having had “a difficult conversation” with Taylor’s family.
“I fully understand the suffering over the tragic loss of Mrs. Taylor. I understand him as a prosecutor and as a black man, “he said.
Cameron called on those marching in the streets to “remember that peaceful marches” are your “right as American citizens,” but that “violence and destruction” are not.
“Seeking justice with violence is not rendering justice, it is revenge,” he declared.
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