Case for ex-cop in Breonna Taylor raid goes to jury

A jury on Thursday began deliberations in the trial of Brett Hankison, the only officer charged in the raid that killed Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky., in 2020.

Brett Hankison, who was fired over his involvement in the raid, faces three counts of wanton endangerment connected to shots he fired through a side door into Taylor’s neighbors’ apartment.

Assistant Kentucky Attorney General Barbara Maines Whaley told the jury on Thursday that Hankison was “over here, shooting wildly through sliding glass doors covered with vertical blinds and drapes,” according to The Associated Press.

But defense attorney Stew Mathews said that the former officer “did what he thought he had to do in that instant.” 

Hankison, 45, testified that he acted reasonably under the belief he was saving the lives of the other officers on the scene. 

“Is there anything, Brett, that you feel like you did wrong on March 13 at 3003 Springfield Drive?” Mathews asked Hankison earlier in the hearing.

“Absolutely not,” Hankison responded, calling the raid a “tragedy” and adding that Taylor “didn’t need to die that night.”

Hankison’s bullet did not hit Taylor. But Taylor’s neighbor, Cody Etherton, testified that the officers conducting the botched raid were “reckless” and “unorganized.”

“To me, a professional well-trained officer, they should have had the floor plans. They should have had the blueprints. They didn’t even know whose backdoor that was. They didn’t even know who lived there. So, to me that kind of upset me. It was just reckless to me,” Etherton added.

During the raid, a Louisville police officer fatally shot Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician.

Under the impression intruders were entering the apartment, Taylor’s boyfriend fired shots when officers kicked in the door. The officers returned fire and killed Taylor.