What we know about officer indicted in connection with Breonna Taylor's death

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Wednesday, September 23, 2020
What we know about officer indicted in connection with Breonna Taylor's death
Brett Hankison has been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment, a Jefferson County grand jury announced.

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky -- One of the Louisville officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor has been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment, a Jefferson County grand jury decided.

Brett Hankison, 44, was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department on June 23. A termination letter sent to him by interim Louisville Police Chief Robert Schroeder said the white officer had 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.

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Taylor, an emergency medical worker, was shot multiple times by officers who entered her home during a narcotics investigation. The warrant used to search her home was connected to a suspect who did not live there, and no drugs were found inside.

At a news conference, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Hankison and the two other officers who entered Taylor's apartment announced themselves before entering the apartment and did not use a no-knock warrant. The use of no-knock warrants has since been banned by Louisville's Metro Council.

Cameron's office had been receiving materials from the Louisville Police Department's public integrity unit while they tried to determine whether state charges would be brought against the three officers involved, he said.

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Hankison, Sgt. Johnathan Mattingly, Officer Myles Cosgrove and the detective who sought the warrant, Joshua Jaynes, were placed on administrative reassignment after the shooting.

Hankison joined Louisville Metro Police in 2003, according to then-Chief Steve Conrad.

Prior to Louisville, he worked at the Lexington Police Department from 1999 to 2002, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

With LMPD, Hankison worked in the 6th Division before joining the narcotics unit in 2016.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.