BACKGROUND
It has been 175 days since Breonna Taylor’s life was taken in her own home by Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove during a drug raid and these men have not been charged. The three murderers were operating under a no-knock warrant that is illegal per the Fourth Amendment and Wilson v. Arkansas, which only validates no-knock in the most extreme circumstances.
Moreover, when officers charged in the home, Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, woke up and grabbed his firearm, as he is a licensed gun owner. When police saw his gun, they fired at least 20 bullets, 8 of which struck Taylor. They denied her immediate medical care, which could have likely saved her life; therefore, she died from injuries sustained during the shooting. Walker returned fire and struck an officer in the leg, but they were not life-threatening injuries. He was then charged with attempted murder of an officer.
DESPERATE ATTEMPTS TO COVER-UP A MURDER
After this heinous, illegal act on the part of officers under oath, authorities attempted to deflect by associating Taylor with organized crime. On July 23, 2020, Jefferson County prosecutors tried to collude with Jamarcus Glover, her former boyfriend and the main target in the raids, including the one associated with Taylor’s murder, offering him a plea deal that would implicate her as a drug trafficer in his organization. “The police are trying to make it out to be my fault and turning the whole community out here, making it look like I brought this to Breonna’s door,” Glover stated. Rightfully, her family is outraged with Breonna being attacked through her murder instead of her killers being brought to justice.
One of the three attorneys overseeing Taylor’s cases on behalf of her family, Benjamin Crump, released a statement expressing how he was “outraged that prosecutors would attempt to justify” her murder by trying to get Glover to “falsely state—after her death—that she was part of an organized crime syndicate.” He went further to state, “This is why the Black community has no trust in America’s justice system, it’s enormously ironic that the accused drug dealer here acted with honor, refusing to falsely discredit [Breonna Taylor].” Thomas Wine, the county prosecutor who named her as a “co-defendant” nor the three officers listed above have been held accountable for their erroneous acts leading up to and following Taylor’s death.
See resources below for you to demand justice for Breonna Taylor. Provided in part by www.impactourfuture.com.
It is important to call, email, fax, and do everything that we can to show these people that we demand accountability. The more we put our demands out there, the more likely that they will be pushed to do something in response to the influx of communication.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron: 502-696-5300 attorney.general@ag.ky.gov
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer: 502-574-2003 greg.fischer@louisvilleky.gov
Governor Andy Beshear: 502-564-2611 Fax: (502) 564-2517 governor@mail.state.ky.us info@andybeshear.com
Interim Chief of Police Robert Schroeder Robert.schroeder@louisvilleky.gov
Here’s a script you can use if you’re unsure of what to say:
I am (calling/emailing/writing) on behalf of Breonna Taylor. We demand that John Mattingly, Detective Brett Hankison and Detective Myles Cosgrove are fired immediately and charged with manslaughter and negligence. We demand that a special prosecutor be appointed to investigate the Louisville Police Department immediately. We demand that a special session be convened to ban no-knock warrants immediately. We demand justice for Breonna Taylor. You cannot shoot an innocent civilian and call it a “clerical error.”
