COLUMBUS, Ind. — Local Black leaders expressed disappointment Wednesday with a Kentucky grand jury’s decision in the killing of 26-year-old Louisville emergency room technician Breonna Taylor. She was a Black woman shot five times by white police officers on a no-knock warrant at 1 a.m. March 13.
The grand jury indicted one of three officers. Former Louisville Metro Police detective Brett Hankison, who was fired, was indicted on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, according to news reports.
“It is not going to be well received at all,” said Pastor Mike Harris, the leader of the local, high profile African American Pastors Alliance that has become a leading voice in the area on social justice issues, education, law enforcement, media and other matters impacting minorities. “I don’t think that they can easily explain this away.
“Our problem in the African American community is real simple: Every single person’s life means something … That’s one of the reasons we held our rally (for hope and unity) last week. But it seems like nowadays every time we say that every person’s life means something, something else happens.”
Pastor Johnnie Edwards, president of the Columbus/Bartholomew County Area NAACP Branch, said “this (decision) is not justice.”
Edwards added that he believes the wanton endangerment charges are not severe enough, and he also said he cannot understand why all three officers were not charged in some way.
Edwards said he was especially angered to hear officials yesterday remind the public and media that former detective Hankison is presumed innocent.
“So was Breonna Taylor presumed innocent when they burst in there into her apartment (with a battering ram)?,” Edwards asked. “I think the answer to that is why we have a nation that’s so angry, at least among people of color and those who stand with us. We’re angry because there always seem to be some sort of justification for one who is doing the hurting.
“And yet, with the people of color who have been hurt, there always seems to be a rush to judgment.”
For more on this story, see Thursday’s Republic.
