U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday announced that a total of four officers, current and former, from the Louisville Metro Police Department have been federally charged for their involvement in the fatal raid on the apartment of Breonna Taylor.
In September 2020, Kentucky Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced that no officers would be indicted for murder in Taylor’s case. The 26-year-old’s death sparked racially-charged protests and riots.
Garland announced Joshua Jaynes, Brett Hankison, Kelly Goodlett, and Kyle Meany had been slapped with charges for several alleged crimes, including lying to obtain a warrant that was used to search the home, the New York Times reported.
By allegedly lying, some of the officers “violated federal civil rights laws, and that those violations resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death,” Garland said.
After the feds began poking around the incident, Garland said at least three of the now-charged officers misled investigators, with two “[agreeing] to tell investigators a false story.”
Taylor was fatally shot by plainclothes officers who raided the woman’s Louisville, Kentucky, home back in March 2020.
Though the mainstream narrative surrounding Taylor’s death initially promoted the idea that she was killed when officers raided her home without knocking, media reports, testimony, and a statement from AG Cameron indicate that officers involved did knock before the raid.
Related: Exclusive: What The Media Didn’t Tell You About Breonna Taylor’s Shooting