The U.S. Justice Department announced civil rights charges Aug. 4 against four Louisville police officers’ actions which led to the death of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman whose fatal shooting contributed to the racial justice protests that rocked the spring and summer of 2020, reports Fox 13 Louisville/AP.
The charges are another effort to hold law enforcement accountable for the killing of the 26-year-old medical worker after one of the officers was acquitted of state charges earlier this year.
Federal officials “share but cannot fully imagine the grief” felt by Taylor’s family, the U.S. attorney general (Merrick Garland) said in announcing the charges.
“Breonna Taylor should be alive today,” Garland said.
The charges range from unlawful conspiracies, use of force and obstruction of justice. The charges are against former officers Joshua Jaynes, Brett Hankison, Kelly Goodlett and Kyle Meany.
Local activists and members of the Taylor family celebrated the charges and thanked federal officials.
“This is a day when Black women saw equal Justice in America,” said attorney Benjamin Crump.
Some of Taylor’s family and other supporters gathered in a park in downtown and chanted “Say her name, Breonna Taylor,”
Taylor was shot to death by Louisville officers in a botched raid of her home.
