Former police officer charged in connection with the death of Breonna Taylor 12:03
(CNN) -
A grand jury indicted former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison on three counts of putting someone in aggravated danger in connection with the deadly shooting that killed Breonna Taylor in March 2020.
The charges drew immediate criticism from protesters who wanted more serious charges, as well as the arrest of the three officers involved in the events.
Hankison is not accused of causing Taylor's death.
Rather, the Police Department said, he fired "senseless and blind" into Taylor's apartment, firing 10 times.
Former police officer Brett Hankison indicted in connection with Breonna Taylor's death
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According to Kentucky statute, someone “is guilty of putting someone in aggravated danger when, in circumstances that manifest extreme disregard for the value of human life, they voluntarily engage in conduct that creates a substantial danger of death. or serious physical injury to another person. '
The charges of the Breonna Taylor case
It is a Class D felony, the lowest of four classes of felony offenses.
The maximum penalty is five years in prison;
the minimum is one year.
If convicted, Hankison faces five years in prison on each count, Attorney General Daniel Cameron said at a news conference Wednesday.
A Class A felony, for example, a murder charge, carries a sentence of up to 50 years or life in prison, and a minimum sentence of 20 years.
Hankison's shots came "from outside a sliding glass door and through a bedroom window," according to a statement from the Attorney General's Office.
Some of the bullets went through Taylor's apartment and into the next door, where three people were inside, including a pregnant woman and a child.
The three counts are for each of the people who were in the apartment, and each count states that "in circumstances that manifest extreme disregard for human life," Hankison "fired a senseless weapon."
"There is no conclusive evidence that the bullets fired by Detective Hankison's gun hit Ms. Taylor," the attorney general's statement reads.
Taylor was shot several times in his home by police conducting a drug investigation.
Her death sparked months of protests and has drawn attention across the country.
Cameron told reporters that the officers were "justified in the use of force" because Taylor's boyfriend shot them first.
Sergeant John Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove were not charged.
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"The minor charges are not surprising"
Of the 22 shots fired by the two that night, six hit Taylor, according to the attorney general, and "medical evidence shows that Mrs. Taylor would have been killed by the fatal shot within seconds or two minutes after being hit." .
Retired Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith, a spokeswoman for the National Police Association, said situations like the ones officers experienced that night are "very dangerous" and "dynamic."
The agents have no other choice.
They can't just run away, and they can't stay there and die, ”Smith said.
"It was a very good decision for the state to present this to a grand jury," Smith said.
«It is a summoned group of citizens.
So the citizens of the state, or some citizens of the state of Kentucky, made this decision based on the facts presented.
Seven cases of violent deaths of black citizens that have generated large protests in the United States.
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Professor Philip Stinson of the Bowling Green State University Criminal Justice Program in Ohio said he was not surprised by the lesser charges.
Stinson keeps an account of police duty shootings and their aftermath.
He says there are about 1,000 of these each year, "and only a few times a year ... they charge an officer with murder or manslaughter as a result of these shootings."
While officers can legally use deadly force if they feel they are an imminent danger, it is difficult for prosecutors to explain to the families of the victims, Stinson said.
It is "a lack of respect for blacks"
Ben Crump, a lawyer for Taylor's family, dismissed the charges, saying it should have been "aggravated murder."
"How ironic and typical it is that the only charges brought in this case were for shooting at the apartment of a white neighbor, while no charges were brought for the shooting at the apartment of the black neighbor or at Breonna's residence," Crump said. in a statement.
"This amounts to the most egregious disrespect for blacks, especially black women, killed by the police in America, and it is indefensible, regardless of how Attorney General Daniel Cameron seeks to justify it."
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The family is "devastated"
Breonna Taylor's family is "devastated, outraged and heartbroken," Crump told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on Thursday.
"The outrage, and the fact that Daniel Cameron apparently did not present any evidence as to why the police were there, executing this dangerous arrest warrant, we believe is unconstitutional, unjustifiable, and based on a lie," Crump said.
“What did (the Attorney General's Office) present to the investigative jury?
That's the question everyone is asking, ”Crump said.
When asked what's next for the family, Crump responded that the FBI is investigating the entire execution of this court order and all agents involved to see if there were civil rights violations against Taylor.
- CNN's Delano Massey and Sheena Jones contributed to this report.
Breonna Taylor