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Tuesday, December 10, 2024
HomeUSAKentuckyTwo officers shot during Breonna Taylor protest in Louisville

Two officers shot during Breonna Taylor protest in Louisville

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Daily US Times: After a grand jury decided no-one would be charged with the death of Breonna Taylor, a black hospital worker, thousands of people protest in the US city of Louisville where two officers have been shot.

Ms Taylor, 26, was shot multiple times as officers stormed her home on 13 March.

Brett Hankison has been charged, not with Ms Taylor’s death, but with “wanton endangerment” for firing into a neighbor’s apartment in Louisville while two other officers face no charges.

Robert Schroeder, Louisville Police Chief, said the officers’ conditions are not life-threatening adding that a suspect is in custody.

A state of emergency has been declared in the city and the National Guard have also been deployed.

Mayor Greg Fischer has set a 21:00-06:30 (01:00-10:30 GMT) curfew in Louisville for three days. The Mayor earlier said he had declared a state of emergency “due to the potential for civil unrest”.

Crowds were still gathered after 21:00 despite curfew. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear urged the protesters to go home.

He said: “We know that the answer to violence is never violence and we are thinking about those two officers and their families tonight. So I’m asking everybody: please, go home. Go home tonight.”

Under the law of Kentucky, someone is guilty of wanton endangerment if they commit an act that shows “an extreme indifference to the value of human life”.

In the state, this lowest-level felony offence can come with a five-year sentence for each count. Brett Hankison was charged on three counts.

Ms Taylor’s relatives and activists for whom her death has become a rallying cry had been calling for the three officers, all are white, to be charged with murder or manslaughter.

But the plea rejected by a grand jury that reviewed the evidence.

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