The US Department of Justice has charged four Louisville police officers involved in the deadly Breonna Taylor raid with civil rights violations.
Federal indictments against former officers Joshua Jaynes, Brett Hankison, and Kelly Goodlett. Kyle Meaney was announced Thursday by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Garland said federal officials "share, but cannot fully imagine" the grief felt by Taylor's family.
"Breona Taylor today must be alive," he said.
Taylor, a 26-year-old black health care worker, was shot dead by a Louisville police officer who knocked down a door during the execution of his search warrant. Taylor's boyfriend opened fire on officers as they walked through the door, firing at one of the officers, who returned fire and hit Taylor multiple times.
Division dismissed in 2020 Hankison, who was shot, was one of Taylor's door officers and one of the three who opened fire that night. He was acquitted by a jury on state charges of endangerment in Louisville earlier this year.
Jaynes had applied for a search warrant for Taylor. Fired by former Interim Louisville Police Commissioner Yvette Gentry for violating the department's standards in preparing to execute a search warrant and for being "false" on the Taylor warrant.
