Breonna Taylor protests | |
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Part of the United States racial unrest and the Black Lives Matter movement | |
Date | May 26, 2020 – August 4, 2022 (2 years, 2 months, 1 week and 2 days) |
Location | United States |
Caused by | |
Methods | Protests, demonstrations, civil disobedience, online activism |
The Breonna Taylor protests were a series of police brutality protests surrounding the killing of Breonna Taylor. Taylor was a 26-year-old African-American woman who was fatally shot by plainclothes officers of the Louisville Metro Police Department on March 13, 2020. Police were initially given "no-knock" search warrant, but orders were changed to "knock and announce" before the raid. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who was inside the apartment with her during the raid, said he thought the officers were intruders. He fired one shot, hitting officer Mattingly in the leg, and the officers fired 32 shots in return, killing Taylor. [1]
For months after the shooting, there were demands from Taylor's family, the family's attorneys, members of the local community, and protesters worldwide that the officers involved in the shooting be fired and criminally charged. [2] [3] On September 23, 2020, a state grand jury indicted Brett Hankison, one of the three officers who shot during the incident, on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment for endangering Taylor's neighbors with his shots. He was later acquitted. On August 4, 2022, Hankison and three other officers were federally charged with violating Taylor's civil rights, unlawful conspiracy, obstruction and unconstitutional use of force. [4]
On May 26, multiple protesters, including friends and family of Taylor, protested outside Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer's office and demanded the three officers be arrested and charged with murder. [5]
On May 27, one Louisville police sergeant said that "The comment section is full of 'All cops need to die' and 'Kill pigs' and things like that" and that several days earlier, while responding to a 911 call near Taylor's apartment, multiple people threw pieces of concrete at police officers (who were uninjured) and then ran away. [6]
On May 28, 500 to 600 demonstrators marched in Downtown Louisville, chanting, "No justice, no peace, prosecute police!" and "Breonna, Breonna, Breonna!" [7] [8] The protests continued into the early morning of May 29, when seven people were shot; one was in critical condition. At the same time, Taylor's sister, Juniyah Palmer, posted on her Facebook page, "At this point y'all are no longer doing this for my sister! You guys are just vandalizing stuff for NO reason, I had a friend ask people why they are there most didn't even know the 'protest' was for my sister." [9] [10] These protests and demonstrations were part of the nationwide reaction to the murder of George Floyd, an African-American man who was killed in police custody on May 25, 2020. [11]
On June 1, 2020, David McAtee, a 53-year-old African-American man, was fatally shot by the Kentucky Army National Guard in Louisville during nationwide protests following the murder of George Floyd and the killing of Breonna Taylor. [12] The Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) and National Guard were in the area to enforce a curfew. According to officials, the police and soldiers were fired upon by McAtee, and two Louisville officers and two National Guardsmen returned fire. McAtee was killed by a shot fired from a guardsman. The body cams of the police involved were deactivated during the shooting, in violation of department policy. [13] Hours later, police chief Steve Conrad was fired by Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer. [14]
On June 27, Steven Lopez was arrested after firing shots on the crowd of protesters gathered at Louisville's Jefferson Square Park, killing one and injuring another. [15] Lopez had previously taken part in the Breonna Taylor protests before the incident took place as well, but later got into arguments with other Jefferson Park protesters which resulted in at least three reported physical confrontations. [15] Lopez was also among a group of 17 Louisville protesters who had been arrested on June 17 for inciting a riot, disorderly conduct, harassment and possession of drug paraphernalia. [15]
In Saint Paul, Minnesota, protesters seeking justice for Breonna Taylor held a "Red Sunday" march on June 26 and gathered at several locations in the Twin Cities. [16]
On July 4, over 100 people participated in the Youth March for Freedom in downtown Louisville. The participants stopped at historical civil rights sites, and speakers called for the end of racial injustice and told the stories of the people affiliated with the sites. [17] On July 14, the national social justice organization Until Freedom organized a march of over 100 people to Attorney General Cameron's house, where protesters occupied his lawn, demanding charges against the officers involved in the killing. [18] [19] [20] Police officers and a police helicopter were present as 87 protesters, including Houston Texans wide receiver Kenny Stills and The Real Housewives of Atlanta star Porsha Williams, were arrested and removed from the lawn. [21]
By mid-July, there had been about 50 days of protests. According to LMPD, 435 protesters had been arrested. [22] On July 24, protesters marched into the NuLu area of Louisville, blocked the 600 block of E. Market Street with metal barricades and set up long metal tables for an impromptu block party to highlight demands for NuLu business owners, including hiring a more proportionate number of black workers. [23] Police cleared the street and arrested 76 protesters who refused to leave. [24] [23]
On July 25, 300 members of the Atlanta-based black militia NFAC (Not Fucking Around Coalition) marched to Louisville's Metro Hall with the street lined with local protesters. NFAC founder John "Grandmaster Jay" Johnson gave a speech calling on officials to speed up and be more transparent about the investigation into Taylor's death. [25]
As of August 10, LMPD had arrested 500 protesters over 75 days of protests. [26]
On September 23, the night after the grand jury verdict was announced, protesters gathered in the Jefferson Square Park area of Louisville as well as many other U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Denver, Nashville, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Portland. [27] [28] The previous day, a state of emergency had been declared in Louisville in anticipation of the verdict announcement. Over 1000 Kentucky National Guardsmen were mobilized to supplement the LMPD to assist with demonstration control and curfew enforcement [29] In Louisville, two LMPD officers were shot during the protest and one suspect was kept in custody. [30] [31] Two reporters from the right-wing website The Daily Caller were arrested and charged with breaking curfew and unlawful assembly. [32] In Buffalo, a pickup truck was driven through a crowd of protesters, striking and injuring one. [33]
In Seattle, 13 were arrested for charges ranging from failure to disperse, obstruction, property damage, resisting arrest, and assaulting an officer. One officer was struck on the head with a baseball bat cracking his helmet. [34] In the early morning of September 24, a Seattle Police Officer is seen in a video riding his bicycle over the head of a protester lying on the ground. As a result of a Seattle Police Department use of force investigation, an unnamed police officer was placed on administrative leave after rolling both wheels of his bicycle over the head of a protester lying in the street. The incident was referred to the King County Sheriff's Office for a potential criminal investigation. [35] [36]
In December, the Seattle Police Department was held in federal contempt by the U.S. District Judge Richard Jones for the "indiscriminate" use of blast balls and pepper spray during 2020 BLM protests. "On Sept. 23, an officer who was several rows back from the front of the police line threw a blast ball into a crowd, then immediately turned around, demonstrating a "clear lack of care for where the blast ball landed."" [37]
On September 24, Kentucky state representative and former member of the Louisville Metro Council Attica Scott, the only black woman in the Kentucky General Assembly, [38] was arrested in Louisville before the start of the curfew and spent the night in jail. Along with 17 others Scott was charged with felony first-degree rioting, misdemeanor failure to disperse and misdemeanor unlawful assembly. [38] The charge of rioting was dismissed on October 6 and the misdemeanor charges were dropped on November 16. [38]
In Denver, one person was detained for driving into a protester. No injuries were reported. [39]
On September 27, a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with Breonna Taylor occurred at Riverside Park in Wichita, Kansas. [40]
On December 3, 2020, the founder of the NFAC, a Black separatism movement, John "Grandmaster Jay" Johnson, was indicted on charges of allegedly pointing his rifle at Police Officers. He is being investigated by the F.B.I. [41] [42]
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On and around the anniversary of the killing, hundreds of people gathered for protests and civil unrest in cities across the United States including Louisville, Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Grand Rapids, Portland, New York, Washington, D.C., and Seattle. [43] [44] [45] [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said that three officers received minor injuries, nine businesses were vandalized and 11 protesters were arrested. [51]
Kentucky Republicans work to pass the controversial 'Kentucky Senate Bill 211', which would make it a misdemeanor to insult Kentucky Police Officers, thus being punishable by up to 90 days in jail. It has been criticized as an infringement on free speech, and as a form of suppression of protesters for Police Accountability. The bill is currently on hold until 2022 and until further notice. [52] [53] [54]
Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city, although by population density, it is the 265th most dense city. Louisville is the historical county seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.
Vadim Dale is an Australian-American policeman and former reality television personality. He was featured on the 2004 American reality television dating show Outback Jack, where he met his wife, Natalie. In 2005, he relocated to Natalie's hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, where he joined the Louisville Metro Police Department.
The Louisville Metro Council is the city council of Louisville, Kentucky. It was formally established in January 2003 upon the merger of the former City of Louisville with Jefferson County and replaced the city's Board of Aldermen and the county's Fiscal Court. Louisville City Hall houses the offices and chambers of the council.
The Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) began operations on January 6, 2003, as part of the creation of the consolidated city-county government in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It was formed by the merger of the Jefferson County Police Department and the Louisville Division of Police. The Louisville Metro Police Department was most recently headed by Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel since January 2, 2023. On Tuesday June 25, 2024, Chief Gwinn-Villaroel resigned following an ongoing sexual harassment and abuse scandal among the Louisville Metro Police Department. Major Paul Humphrey was appointed Interim Chief by Mayor Craig Greenburg. A national search will be conducted for a permanent chief. LMPD divides Jefferson County into eight patrol divisions and operates a number of special investigative and support units. The LMPD is currently negotiating a consent decree with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) subsequent to a 2023 investigation by the DOJ that concluded that the LMPD engaged in a decades long pattern of civil rights abuses.
Frazier Othel Thompson III, better known by his stage name Trae tha Truth, is an American rapper. Embarking on a musical career in 1998, he soon established himself as a prominent member of the Texas hip hop scene with his solo debut, Losing Composure (2003). Same Thing Different Day (2004) and Restless (2006) followed up, the latter of which was his debut on Rap-a-Lot Records.
In the United States, a no-knock warrant is a warrant issued by a judge that allows law enforcement to enter a property without immediate prior notification of the residents, such as by knocking or ringing a doorbell. In most cases, law enforcement will identify themselves just before they forcefully enter the property. It is issued under the belief that any evidence they hope to find may be destroyed between the time that police identify themselves and the time they secure the area, or in the event where there is a large perceived threat to officer safety during the execution of the warrant.
Gregory Edward Fischer is an American businessman and entrepreneur who served as the second mayor of Louisville Metro from 2011 to 2023. In 2019, he was elected vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and in 2020, he served as its president.
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Breonna Taylor was an African-American woman who was shot and killed while unarmed in her Louisville, Kentucky home by three police officers who entered under the auspices of a "no-knock" search warrant. After Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) ex-detective Brett Hankison was acquitted of felony wanton endangerment of Taylor's neighbors at the state-level, Attorney-General Merrick Garland announced the Department of Justice was charging Hankison with the unconstitutional use of excessive force that violated Taylor's civil rights. Three other officers, who were not present at the shooting, were also federally charged with conspiracy in falsifying evidence to procure the search warrant, and then covering it up.
Breonna Taylor, aged 26, was an African-American medical worker who was killed on March 13, 2020, after police officers from Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) forced entry into her home. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a warning shot, mistaking the police for intruders, and wounded officer Jonathan Mattingly. Mattingly and two other LMPD officers—Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove—opened fire, but Cosgrove was determined to have fired the fatal shot. Taylor's family was awarded $12 million in compensation and was given a promise that the LMPD would reform its practices.
On June 1, 2020, David McAtee, a 53-year-old African-American man, was fatally shot by the Kentucky Army National Guard in Louisville during nationwide protests following the murder of George Floyd and the killing of Breonna Taylor. The Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) and National Guard were in the area to enforce a curfew. According to officials, the police and soldiers were fired upon by McAtee, and two Louisville officers and two National Guardsmen returned fire. McAtee was killed by a shot fired from a guardsman. The body cams of the police involved were deactivated during the shooting, in violation of department policy. Hours later, police chief Steve Conrad was fired by Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer.
This is a list of protests brought on by the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd in Kentucky, United States. In 2020, there were protests throughout Kentucky in reaction to the shooting of Breonna Taylor and murder of George Floyd by police, as well as the shooting of David McAtee by the Kentucky Army National Guard. The demonstrations happened regularly in the largest cities in Kentucky, including Louisville and Lexington. Many of the smaller cities had protests on at least one day.
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