The Jefferson County grand jury has indicted one officer on criminal charges six months after Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky.
In a zoom court hearing, Circuit Judge Annie O’Connell announced that Brett Hankison will be charged with three counts of “wanton endangerment” in the first-degree in Taylor’s shooting death.
According to Kentucky law: “A person is guilty of wanton endangerment in the first degree when, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person.”
Wanton endangerment in the first degree is a Class D felony, and a conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years. It’s important to note that Hankison was NOT charged because he shot and killed Breonna Taylor. He was charged because the bullets he fired entered a neighboring apartment.
Officers Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove were not charged, and no homicide charges were pursued. In other words … NO OFFICERS WERE CHARGED FOR KILLING BREONNA TAYLOR.
Hankison, who will be held on a $15,000 bond once arrested, had already been fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department for showing “extreme indifference to the value of human life” by “blindly” firing 10 rounds into Taylor’s apartment during the raid, according to his termination letter. Ladies and gentlemen, this is how to get away with murder. Thoughts?
