Nearly 90 protesters who were arrested earlier this week while demanding justice for Breonna Taylor were dropped on felony charges against them, the Louisville Courier Journal reported Friday.
The Louisville Metropolitan Police Department (LMPD) arrested 87 protesters Tuesday outside the home of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R), where they were pressing charges against the police officers who fatally shot Taylor. They were accused of intimidating a participant in the legal process, a crime that could result in up to five years in prison, as well as two minor crimes.
“While we believe the LMPD had probable cause for the charge, in the interest of justice and the promotion of the free exchange of ideas, we will reject that charge for every protester arrested last Tuesday,” Mike O’Connell, county prosecutor for Jefferson announced in a statement Friday.
More than 100 protesters, including NFL wide receiver Kenny Stills and Minneapolis NAACP President Leslie Redmond, walked to Cameron’s home in the protest organized by the social justice group Until Freedom.
An LMPD spokesperson told The Hill earlier this week that officers followed the group as it marched to Cameron’s home, where they met on his lawn, prompting him to request that they leave. The protesters were arrested after they refused.
Taylor was killed on March 13 after three white officers carried out a “do not touch” order, using a battering ram on the door of her apartment. However, the order was for a man who did not live in the building and was already in custody at the time.
Taylor was shot to death when officers shot her boyfriend, who thought the house was being broken into. They had both been asleep when the police arrived.
No charges have been filed in the case, although Black Lives Matter protesters have rallied for weeks in the city and have called for action. Since then, the city has passed the Breonna Act, which ends orders not to touch and requires that all officers use body cameras. One of the officers involved has been fired and the other two have been reassigned.
The charges against the protesters sparked a backlash this week, with many noting how quickly the protesters were charged compared to the officers involved in Taylor’s death.
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