Four current or former police officers in Louisville, Kentucky, have been charged with violating Breonna Taylor‘s civil rights in the 2020 botched no-knock raid that led to the young Black woman’s death, federal officials said Thursday.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, in announcing the charges, said the Department of Justice alleges that the violations “resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death.”
Detective Joshua Jaynes, with the Louisville Metro Police Department, obtained the no-knock warrant used in the March 13, 2020, search of Taylor’s apartment.
Jaynes, Kelly Goodlett, who along with Jaynes was a detective in the Place-Based Investigations unit that investigated drug trafficking, and Sgt. Kyle Meany, who supervised the unit, were charged with falsifying an affidavit.
Jaynes and Goodlett are accused of misleading investigators probing the deadly shooting. Meany allegedly lied to the FBI, Garland said.
In a separate indictment, Brett Hankison was charged with using excessive force while executing the search warrant.
Hankison was terminated from the department in June 2020, while Jaynes was terminated in January 2021, Louisville police said in a Thursday statement. The department is also seeking to terminate Goodlett and Meany, the statement said.
“Today Chief Erika Shields began termination procedures of Sgt. Kyle Meany and Officer Kelly Goodlett. While we must refer all questions about this federal investigation to the FBI, it is critical that any illegal or inappropriate actions by law enforcement be addressed comprehensively in order to continue our efforts to build police-community trust,” police said.
A lawyer believed to be representing Jaynes was not immediately reached Thursday. Attorney Stew Mathews, who has previously represented Hankison, said he did not know yet whether he would be representing him in the federal case.
Mathews said he spoke to Hankison on Thursday morning while he was “on his way to turn himself in” but has not spoken to him since.
It was unclear if Goodlett and Meany had retained attorneys.
During the early morning raid, officers opened fire, killing Taylor, after her boyfriend, believing an intruder was trying to break in, fired a gun toward the door.
Taylor’s boyfriend lawfully possessed the gun, Garland said. And after he fired and struck an officer, two officers then fired 22 shots, one of which fatally struck Taylor in the chest, Garland said.
“The federal charges announced today allege that members of the Place-Based Investigations unit falsified the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant of Ms. Taylor’s home,” Garland said, adding “that this act violated federal civil rights laws and that those violations resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death.”
Garland also said the search warrant was sought while officers knew they lacked probable cause for the search. Jaynes and Goodlett, Garland said, falsely claimed officers verified the target of the alleged drug trafficking had received packages at Taylor’s address.
“Defendants Jaynes and Goodlett knew that was not true,” Garland said.
The bungled raid targeted Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, a convicted drug dealer, who was not in the apartment at the time. That man, Jamarcus Glover, has said Taylor had no involvement in the drug trade.
The officers involved in the raid were unaware of the misleading statements in the search warrant affidavit, Garland said.
Hankison is charged with using excessive force, Garland said, because after Taylor was shot, he moved from a doorway and fired 10 more shots through a window and a sliding glass door both covered with blinds and curtains.
Hankison was found not guilty on all counts in March of endangering a couple and their 5-year-old son the night of the raid. He was accused of endangering Cody Etherton, his partner, Chelsey Napper, and their son when he fired shots that went into their apartment.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.