Today the DOJ announced that it is opening a civil investigation into the shooting and killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that the federal “pattern or practice” probe will begin exploring whether a culture of prejudicial practices and abusive and unlawful tactics have been pervasive in the Louisville Police Department.
Taylor’s death sparked an uprising in Louisville and throughout the country in 2020 and she has yet to have justice for her death after Attorney General Daniel Cameron failed to charge or present evidence to grand jury that would justify arresting the police officers directly involved in killing Breonna Taylor.
The Louisville investigation will seek to determine whether the department engages in unreasonable force, unconstitutional searches and seizures and unlawful executions of search warrants on private homes, according to Garland. The investigation will also seek to explore whether racial bias of an implicit or explicit nature can be identified in the way the police force has employed it’s tactics.
Breonna Was 26 years old when she was shot and killed while sleeping in her home in March 2020 when 3 plainclothes officers attempted to force entry into her home to execute a “no-knock” warrant. Since this time the city of Louisville has implemented “Breonna’s Law” to ensure that no knock warrants no longer take place in the city.
In a statement issued by NAACP National President Derrick Johnson he asserted, “The relationship between law enforcement and our community has been deeply fractured and shattered by the lack of trust and the little-to-no accountability enforced when police commit a crime.” “For far too long, killings at the hands of police have only led to one hashtag after another. But true justice comes with accountability and action.”
