LOUISVILLE | Two police officers were shot and a suspect was arrested in the US city of Louisville, where an anti-racist protest was taking place Wednesday evening linked to the death of African-American Breonna Taylor in March, police said.
• Read also: Police officer charged with death of African American Breonna Taylor in Kentucky
“Two police officers were shot and wounded. They are being treated at University Hospital, ”Louisville Acting Police Chief Robert Schroeder said at a press conference, adding that their condition was stable and their lives were failing. was a priori not threatened.
Earlier, a few hundred people gathered in Jefferson Square, a downtown square, had been dispersed by police shortly before the time of the 9 p.m. curfew.
Demonstrations spontaneously broke out in several cities of the country, shaken for months by a wave of anti-racist mobilizations, in particular in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
Brett Hankison, one of the three agents who fired in the apartment of the young woman of 26, is being prosecuted for endangering the lives of others, in this case three neighbors of the victim, announced Wednesday the Kentucky attorney.
No charges have been brought against his two colleagues, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove.
A decision “scandalous and insulting”, according to the lawyer of the family of the young woman, Ben Crump.
Emergency state
“Breonna Taylor deserves justice,” Decorryn Adams, a young woman, told Louisville, demanding that her “life is not in danger just because of the color of (her) skin”. “He should be charged with murder,” demanded Levell Hudson, a 17-year-old African-American.
Before Wednesday’s announcement, the municipality had declared a state of emergency. A large police force was in place and several people were arrested in the afternoon.
The nurse was killed in the middle of the night at her home on March 13 when the three police officers showed up with an arrest warrant.
When they arrived, his companion had opened fire with a legally owned weapon. The officers retaliated and Breonna Taylor was shot several times. His companion then explained that he believed in a burglary, the agents not having announced themselves. They claim to have presented themselves before entering, a version corroborated by a witness, according to state prosecutor Daniel Cameron.
Agent Hankison fired ten bullets, several of which ended their course in the apartment next to that of Breonna Taylor, “putting three people in serious danger of physical injury or death,” said the prosecutor.
As for the two police officers not charged, who had been laid off, the investigation concluded in self-defense.
“Under Kentucky law, the use of force (by officers) Mattingly and Cosgrove was justified for self-protection. This justification prevents us from prosecuting them for the death of Breonna Taylor, ”said the prosecutor.
According to local media reports, Brett Hankison showed up at an area jail and was then released after posting bail of $ 15,000, a very low sum compared to other similar cases. Fired by the Louisville police in June, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
“Shame”
“My sister, the system you worked so hard for has let you down,” Breonna Taylor’s sister Juniyah Palmer said on Instagram.
According to lawyer Ben Crump, this is “a new example of lack of responsibility for the genocide of people of color perpetrated by police”.
“It is ironic and typical that the only charges in this case relate to shots fired in the apartment of a white neighbor”, while a person of color was killed, he said. added.
The name of Breonna Taylor, whose death did not initially attract much attention, has been chanted for months as part of the major anti-racism protests crossing the United States.
Many Democratic officials denounced Wednesday’s decision, with Senator Bernie Sanders calling it “shame.”
Donald Trump’s presidential opponent Joe Biden said he “understands the frustration” but at the same time called for calm: Americans “have the right to demonstrate peacefully, but violence is never acceptable” , he said in a statement.
The Republican president showed him, during a press conference, his support for the statements of the state prosecutor.
“I know that these charges announced today will not satisfy everyone,” admitted prosecutor Cameron, admitting to having had “a difficult discussion” with the family of Breonna Taylor.
But “seeking justice through violence is not to deliver justice, it is revenge,” he said.