Officer from Breonna Taylor raid faces another criminal trial, this time in federal court

Former Louisville Metro Police Department detective Brett Hankison is facing another criminal trial over his role in the deadly 2020 raid on Breonna Taylor’s home. Jury selection in the federal case against Hankison starts Monday.
Hankison was one of seven officers present at the middle-of-the-night raid, in which officers shot and killed the 26-year-old emergency room technician. One of the officers, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, was shot in the leg while trying to serve the search warrant. During the exchange of gunfire between officers and Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, Hankison shot through a covered window and sliding glass door. Some of his bullets landed in an occupied neighboring apartment.

LMPD fired him in June 2020, in the midst of widespread protests over Taylor’s killing and a lack of police accountability.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Hankison with two counts of deprivation of rights under the color of law. Prosecutors say Hankison fired blindly into the apartment, using deadly force when “there was no longer a lawful objective.”

Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights with the DOJ, said when announcing the charges that Hankison wrongfully endangered people’s lives.