Police Officer involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor fired

The Louisville Metro Police Department said Wednesday that it has fired a detective in connection with the fatal, police-involved shooting of Breonna Taylor. 

A termination letter to Detective Brett Hankison in connection with his fired states he violated two standard operating procedures: obedience to rules and regulations and use of deadly force, according to the Associated Press. 

It also states Hankinson violated procedures by showing “extreme indifference to the value of human life” when he “wantonly and blindly” shot 10 rounds of gunfire into Taylor’s apartment in March. 

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said Friday that Hankison was in the process of being fired.

Taylor, at her time of death was a 26-year-old emergency room technician. Police officers broke into her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky, on a no-knock search warrant. She was killed in an exchange of gunfire between police and her boyfriend, who was in the apartment. 

The warrant to search Taylor’s home was in connection to a suspected drug dealer having operated out of her apartment. No drugs were found in her apartment.

The incident along with the May 25 death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police sparked weeks of protests about police brutality toward black Americans. 

Hankison was fired Friday by Chief Robert Schroeder. 

In the termination letter, Schroeder writes about Hankison: “Your conduct has severely damaged the image of our Department we have established within our community. The result of your actions seriously impedes the Department’s goal of providing the citizens of our city with the most professional law enforcement agency possible. I cannot tolerate this type of conduct by any member of the Louisville Metro Police Department. Your conduct demands your termination.”

Louisville’s Metro Council recently banned the practice of no-knock search warrants, which allows police officers to enter homes of residents without announcing their presence. 

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul introduced a bill called the “Justice for Breonna Taylor Act” on June 11. The bill, if passed, would end no-knock raids in the United States.