Statement on Breonna Taylor Decision

Today, after months of protests nationwide, a grand jury has announced that charges would be levied against Brett Hankison, only one of the three police officers responsible for killing Breonna Taylor. Hankison will be charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree but no charges regarding ending Ms. Taylor’s life. Additionally, the grand jury has announced that two other officers, Jon Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, will not be charged and claimed they were justified in their actions when they fired more than 20 rounds into the apartment fatally shooting Ms. Taylor. Let me be very clear, this is not justice.

It is incredibly disheartening, but not surprising, that all three officers were not charged and have alluded facing the accountability for their actions. This is a miscarriage of justice and confirms what millions of demonstrators protesting for police and criminal justice reform have been demanding. We need real police and criminal justice reform! Every instance of police violence and evasion of justice diminishes faith in our legal system and is an affront to the ideals our system claims to stand for.

We must continue to place pressure on AG Daniel Cameron and Governor Beshear to do what is right: arrest and charge all of the officers involved in fatally shooting Breonna Taylor. We cannot allow her memory to be yet another casualty of institutionalized racism in the United States. Justice must be brought to Breonna and her family. Black Lives Matter.