SEATTLE—As demonstrations swept America last month in response to prosecutors failing to charge police for killing Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, hundreds of protesters here mobilized for their latest confrontation with cops. Around 1 a.m. on Sept. 24, a team of officers, many riding bicycles, advanced on activists in the freewheeling area of this city once known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) or Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ). The crowd slowly retreated, some with their arms raised. But Camillo Massagli, known to local activists and admirers as “Trumpet Man,” decided he wasn’t moving. The 26-year-old told The Daily Beast he […]
Breonna Taylor
Every element of the criminal system is implicated in the failure to secure justice for Breonna Taylor. The cops, per the judge who signed off the warrant that set the events leading to Taylor’s murder in motion, likely obtained that paperwork using fabricated information. Shoddy police work saw Louisville law enforcement raid Taylor’s home despite the fact that the suspect they sought was already in their custody. The three officers who killed Taylor wildly fired more than 30 rounds between them into the darkness of her apartment, pumping at least six fatal shots into her body. They then ignored their own […]
The recent release of grand jury records on the Breonna Taylor case has highlighted a number of new questions surrounding both the police operation that killed Taylor and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s overall handling of the case. Cameron’s office released redacted versions of some 20 hours’ worth of audio files from the grand jury proceedings on Friday. This came as a court-ordered response to the Monday filing of a motion which accused the attorney general of misleading the public following the announcement of charges on September 23, which resulted in the arrest of ex-Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) Det. Brett […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo-itemprop.png Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202009291080603941-grand-juror-files-motion-to-release-breonna-taylor-files-accusing-da-of-misleading-public/ A motion to release grand jury transcipts, recordings and reports has been issued by a grand juror in the case involving the shooting of Breonna Taylor. The grand jury motion detailed that Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the case prosecutor, “made many definitive remarks during his press conference,” following the September 23 decision to indict former Louisville Metro Police Department Officer Brett Hankinson on three counts of wanton endangerment. “Among, them, he stated that his office’s investigation found ‘… and the grand jury agreed that Mattinglyu and Cosgrove were justified in the return of deadly […]
This week, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron made the bombshell announcement that the cops who fatally shot Breonna Taylor would not be charged with killing her, calling their use of force in the March raid “justified to protect themselves.” In that justification, he said that one witness corroborated the three officers’ insistence that they knocked and identified themselves at Taylor’s Louisville home while executing a search warrant in connection with a narcotics investigation. It contradicted claims from Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenny Walker, and 11 other residents, who said they didn’t hear the cops announce themselves. Instead, Walker thought he was being burglarized […]
Fox News host Tucker Carlson ramped up his inflammatory rhetoric on Thursday night when he essentially argued that Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Jacob Blake were to blame for their deaths and injuries from police, going so far as to tie Taylor to drug trafficking to make his case. On the same day that a federal judge agreed with Fox News lawyers that Carlson’s program should not be taken seriously as news or information, the primetime conservative star insisted that “every story we’ve been told” recently about police brutality against African Americans “has been at its core a lie.” Floyd’s death […]
LOUISVILLE—Protests over prosecutors failing to indict any cops for the March killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor flared up again here Thursday, even as the city was still picking up the pieces from an explosive night of violence and unrest. Less than 24 hours after Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a conservative Trump ally, declined to charge officers for fatally shooting Taylor, a Black emergency medical worker, during a botched attempt to serve a warrant, activists were out in force in Jefferson Square Park. Dozens cheered as protesters were released from a side door at the Department of Corrections adjacent the square—over 100 […]
LOUISVILLE—On Wednesday night, at least 20 members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group, were observed guarding storefronts in downtown Louisville amid sometimes violent unrest over the lack of charges in the police killing of Breonna Taylor. The businesses included Bader’s Food Mart—which is also a Shell gas station—Stewart’s Pawn Shop, and Hampton Inn Downtown Louisville, all at or near the intersection of Jefferson and South 1st Street. All of the businesses, besides the hotel, appeared to be closed at the time. The heavily armed men—many bearing rifles, night-vision goggles, and wearing camouflage—were seen on the roof of Stewart’s Pawn […]
Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano diverged from the consensus opinion of his colleagues on the Breonna Taylor decision, saying Thursday that he would have personally “indicted all three” police officers involved in her death. After a Kentucky grand jury decided not to charge any of the three Louisville Metro police officers with killing Taylor during a botched late-night raid on her apartment, Fox News hosts and pundits quickly defended the lack of charges, essentially calling it an unfortunate “tragedy” that couldn’t be helped. Napolitano, however, saw things just a bit differently. During an interview on The Daily Briefing, […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo-itemprop.png Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202009241080561839-gunman-who-shot-2-policemen-in-louisville-charged-with-16-criminal-counts/ WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Riots broke out in Louisville on Wednesday after the state attorney general announced that no criminal charges will be filed against the police officers involved in the death of African-American woman Breonna Taylor in March. A gunman who shot two police officers during riots in Louisville, Kentucky, overnight has been charged with 16 criminal counts, interim Louisville Police Chief Robert Schroeder said during a press conference on Thursday. “At this time Larynzo Johnson has been charged with two counts of assault first degree and 14 counts of wanton endangerment, all directed […]
Sometimes there is a difference between law and justice. On Wednesday, Kentucky Attorney General Dan Cameron announced that a police officer would be charged in the shooting incident that killed Breonna Taylor. But the officer who was charged is not one of the officers who shot at her. Former Detective Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing shots that entered a neighboring apartment where a couple and their five-year old child were sleeping. They were not physically harmed. Hankinson was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department after the incident for violating policy that forbids shooting […]
The Seattle Police Department is investigating after a video showed one of its cops rolling a bike over the head and neck of a fallen protester at Wednesday night’s Breonna Taylor demonstrations. Protests erupted in the city in response to officers in Louisville, Kentucky, not being charged for fatally shooting the 26-year-old Black woman. The SPD confirmed in a statement that 13 people were arrested at the Seattle demonstrations and complained that multiple officers had been injured, including one who was struck in the head with a baseball bat. However, the shocking video, which appears to show an SPD officer rolling […]
Late in his monologue Wednesday night, Jimmy Kimmel brought up the bare minimum charges that were filed against the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor. “Many are upset. There are protests in Louisville and elsewhere as well,” the host said. “So the president, as he is known to do, took a moment to offer words of healing and unity and condolences to the Taylor family.” Asked earlier in the day if he believes “justice was served” in the Breonna Taylor case and to offer a “message to the Black community, who believe that perhaps justice was not served by the decision […]
When a Louisville grand jury chose not to charge any of the police officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor for their role in killing a 26-year-old Black woman, it was confirmation that, to many, my life as a Black woman does not matter. And as a native Kentuckian, that shattered me. I spent my early years and every summer in Southeastern Kentucky. As I grew up and moved around, I was made fun of for my “country accent” that eventually faded as I got older. But jokes never ended about my “country” upbringing and whatever myths people chose to […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/09/17/1080554773_0:320:3072:2048_1200x675_80_0_0_beae01328d2651fd502ecaf511d18b6d.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202009231080554809-live-washington-dc-protesters-demand-justice-for-breonna-taylor-in-wake-of-grand-jury-decision/ Renewed Black Lives Matter protests have broken out across the US in the wake of a Wednesday decision by a Kentucky grand jury not to indict for murder any of the officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, on March 13. In Washington, DC, demonstrators gathered outside the US Department of Justice. The Kentucky National Guard has been called into Louisville, where a 9 p.m. local time curfew has been scheduled amid nationwide protests triggered by the grand jury’s decision regarding the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers […]
A 41-year-old Black man suffocated to death in March after police in Rochester, New York, pinned him to the ground. Though Daniel Prude’s death occurred nearly six months ago, details became public at a press conference organized by his family Wednesday, according to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. Body camera footage of the altercation also became available Wednesday, which Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren called “disturbing.” She said, “I can sympathize and empathize with the family.” Joe Prude, the victim’s brother, called the police’s actions “cold-blooded murder” and said officers treated him “like a damned animal.” “I placed a phone call to […]
As a Black queer millennial, I’m often told I’m strong. For my mere existence alone is often said to be an act of resilience. I live in a world where people who look like me are being extrajudicially killed by cops on viral videos. A global pandemic is taking away my skinfolk more rapidly than any other population. And bigotry, H.I.V., gun violence, opioids, and poverty continues to disproportionately cut at the intersections of my Black queer community unforgivingly. Living in Philadelphia, a city that is now second to Chicago in homicides, I have witnessed too many loved ones who have […]
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) claims that his life was saved by police Thursday night when he says he was “attacked by an angry mob” of protesters when leaving the White House after President Donald Trump’s big Republican National Convention speech. Videos of the confrontation appear to show that the senator was heckled, but not actually touched by protesters. Paul tweeted early Friday: “Just got attacked by an angry mob of over 100, one block away from the White House. Thank you to DC Police Dept for literally saving our lives from a crazed mob.” Videos show protesters surrounding the Republican and […]
It has been 20 weeks since Breonna Taylor was shot and killed in her own home. And the cops who killed her still have not been arrested. “If you’re online a lot, you’ve probably seen Breonna Taylor being turned into just another meme,” Trevor Noah said on Thursday night near the top of the 12-minute segment he dedicated to her story. While the people keeping her name “trending” may be “well-intentioned,” the Daily Show host said they were “essentially using her name as a punchline.” “Memes are not the best way to honor someone who has passed,” he continued. “It’s the […]
Shots rang out in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday as hundreds of members of dueling militia groups faced off during a planned protest against police brutality. The march was initially planned by the Not Fucking Around Coalition—an all-Black armed militia founded by Atlanta-based rapper and DJ John “Jay” Johnson—to protest the death of 26-year-old Black woman Breonna Taylor at the hands of Louisville cops. The “Three Percenter” far-right militia group also called on members to be present to act as an ad-hoc security force during the rally, according to social media posts first reported by a local radio station. Johnson said in […]
Breonna Taylor, a Kentucky EMT worker fatally shot in her home in March, died as a result of a politically-driven police operation “to clear out” a Louisville street to make way for a multi-million gentrification plan, a lawsuit filed by the 26-year-old’s family states. Taylor, who worked for two local hospitals, and her boyfriend were asleep in their apartment on March 13 when three officers executed a “no-knock” search warrant looking for a suspected drug dealer who lived in a different part of town. Taylor was shot eight times, spurring an FBI investigation and unleashing a wave of protests alongside the […]
For centuries, Black women have been at the forefront of the fight for justice and equality, and yet they have been consistently mistreated, ignored, and discredited—including by Black people. It’s happened again in recent weeks, as the calls to arrest the officers who killed Breonna Taylor have been treated differently online, and elsewhere, than similar calls in cases involving Black men. Google search traffic shows that the killings of Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks gained significantly more immediate attention than Taylor’s killing. While searches for Arbery peaked almost immediately after the release of the video of his murder, […]
Cities across the world have erupted in protest against police violence and anti-Black racism, but who are they marching for? In the wake of the killings of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, global communities have participated in themed protests to honor their lives. From #IRunWithMaud to celebrity-led comedy specials, there’s no shortage of coverage of their deaths. But since these protests picked up steam, I’ve noticed a quieter trend on my timelines: sprinkles of posts reminding authorities to arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor, like accent colors in a monochromatic room. Source link
It happened in Atlanta. In San Francisco. In D.C. and in Charlotte. Over and over again in recent weeks, black female mayors have stepped onto the national stage—and been forced to publicly face their contradictory roles. Not only are these women in positions of power and obligated to uphold the law, but they also find themselves promoting racial justice in a movement that does not always fight for black women. “I’m in charge of this city,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed told The Daily Beast, but “I’m still a black woman who is sadly still being treated in a disrespectful way, […]
A man has died in Louisville after being shot at by LMPD and Kentucky National Guard forces, according to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. In an earlier statement, Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Steve Conrad confirmed that a man had been shot and killed, but did not say whether or not the individual had died as a result of shots fired by law enforcement. Conrad linked the shootout to the protests in the city. Protests have gripped Louisville in response to the death of Breonna Taylor, 26, a black EMT killed by police during a botched no-knock raid on her apartment on […]