The Killing of Breonna Taylor is Not About Systemic Racism – It’s Much Deeper Than That.

Breonna Taylor, a young black woman, was shot and killed by the police in Louisville, Kentucky. Ms. Taylor was a front-line worker at a hospital and had no police record. Street protests started immediately and all pundits claimed this was another case of systemic racism by the police.

However, many aspects of the case raise questions. Many of these have not been answered in the press.

Starting with the facts. This is made difficult since there are conflicting reports and there are indications that there is a lot of genuine fake news (as opposed to Trump’s “fake news”)

Here is what seems to have happened:

• The police came to Ms. Taylor’s apartment shortly after midnight with a warrant for the arrest of her ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover.
• Some reports claim that she was also named on the warrant (for “aiding and abetting a criminal”??)
• The police officers, Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove, knocked on the door and identified themselves.
• They then smashed down the door with a battering ram and one of them entered.
• Sergeant Mattingly was immediately shot by Ms. Taylor’s current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who was in the apartment with her.
• The police then started shooting into the apartment. 22 shots were fired.
• Five of these hit Ms. Taylor, one of which proved fatal.
• Walker, was not injured (though some reports say he was hit by a bullet once).

In the subsequent inquiry, Officer Brett Hankison was charged with wanton endangerment. He had been outside the apartment and his shots went through the apartment and entered a different apartment. The other officers were not charged with any crime.

I have several questions about the events of that night:

• What was the layout of the apartment? – if there was a bedroom, it would probably be at the back, so the police identification may not have been heard.
• Were the police officers in uniform?
• Did the police know who was in the apartment? (the answer is obviously no, but that has not been verified)
• How were 22 shots fired and only 5 hit the victim, who was not the target?”

The most likely explanation is that the police fired blindly into the apartment, perhaps concealing themselves behind a door frame.

How can firing blindly into an apartment when you don’t know who is in there be justified?

There were clearly alternative actions that could have been taken:

• Patience – waiting until they gave themselves up.
• Tear gas canister
• Stun grenade
• Smoke grenade
• Waiting for backup from a trained police negotiator.

Instead, the police just riddled the apartment with bullets, as if this was a TV cop show.

The fact that two of the officers were not charged means that what they did was in accordance with standard police procedure.

Clearly, it is “standard police procedure” which needs to be addressed.

There have been numerous calls for police reform, but powerful interests, especially the police unions, have resisted strongly. Several articles in the New York Times have documented some of these:

• “To Hold Police Accountable, Ax the Arbitrators”, Editorial Board, NYT, Oct 3 2020
• “Can a Murder Verdict Help Reform Chicago Police?”, Editorial Board, NYT, Oct 11 2018
• “When Police Unions Impede Justice”, Editorial Board, NYT, Sep 3 2016