The Louisville Metro Council voted unanimously on Thursday in favor of “Breonna’s Law,” a proposal that prohibits police officers and other public safety officials from executing no-knock search warrants during the course of an investigation.
WFPL reports that the measure, which was approved 26-0, was signed on Friday by Mayor Greg Fischer: “It is with a profound sense of hope that I now sign this legislation, which writes Breonna Taylor’s name into the law, into the history of this city, of this country, forever.”
Over the past two weeks, protestors in Louisville have been demonstrating in the name of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency technician who was killed by police officers executing a “no-knock” search warrant at her home as part of a drug investigation, as previously reported by The Courier-Journal.
Despite having a no-knock warrant, police claim they knocked anyway. However, Taylor’s boyfriend and neighbors deny hearing any knocking. Neither Taylor nor her boyfriend were the subject of the investigation, and no drugs were found at her home.
According to the Associated Press, a lawsuit filed by Taylor’s family alleged that Jamarcus Glover, the suspect of the investigation, had already been arrested after police executed a separate warrant on the same night.
While the prohibition of no-knock warrants only applies within the county, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has introduced “The Breonna Taylor Act” to ban federal agents from using no-knock warrants.
“After talking with Breonna Taylor’s family, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s long past time to get rid of no-knock warrants. This bill will effectively end no-knock raids in the United States,” said Paul.
The Kentucky senator’s legislation also prohibits any law enforcement agencies that receive funding from the Department of Justice from executing no-knock warrants, and requires all agencies to state their “authority and purpose” before executing a warrant.
The Courier-Journal reports that the police incident report from the night Taylor was killed has drawn outrage from the mayor and an apology from the police department, on account that it is almost completely blank and appears to contain multiple mistakes.
The news agency highlights several areas of the report, including that it lists no injuries for Taylor, claims that forced entry was not used, only has two words — “PIU Investigation” — in the narrative section, and contains many blank areas.
“Inaccuracies in the report are unacceptable to us, and we are taking immediate steps to correct the report and to ensure the accuracy of incident reports going forward,” said the police department, which reportedly suggested that technical errors in a program contributed to the mistakes.
The mayor has also called the police report unacceptable and apologized to Taylor’s family: “It’s issues like this that erode public confidence in LMPD’s ability to do its job, and that’s why I’ve ordered an external top-to-bottom review of the department.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.