“No justice, no peace” calls echoed in Louisville, Ky. after two Louisville police officers were shot, after a grand jury acquitted two officers involved in the deadly no- knock warrant entry, killing 26-year-od EMT tech Breonna Taylor March 13. Two officers remain in a Louisville hospital in stable condition. Two officers involved in Taylor’s killing, Det. Myles Cosgrove [who fired the kill shot] and Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, were not charged by the grand jury, agreeing with police that both used deadly force justifiably, after Mattingly was hit in the thigh by Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker who fired a “warning shot” at police through Breonna’s apartment door. Judge Annie O’Connell charged a third officer Det. Brett Hankison, who was fired in June, with three counts of “reckless endangerment” for discharging his weapon into adjacent apartments.
Erupting in violence tonight, Louisville residents took to the streets to protest what they felt was an insult by Louisville authorities. “Our investigation showed, and the grand jury agreed, that Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in their return of deadly force after having been fired upon” by Breonna’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, said Kentucky Atty. Gen. Daniel Cameron. Breonna’s family attorney, who recently won a $12 million out-of-court settlement, Ben Crump expressed outrage at the Jefferson County grand jury. Crump couldn’t fathom Congrove and Mattingly not charged, indicting Hankison “for bullets that went into other apartments but NOTHING for the murder of Breonna Taylor,” tweeted Crump, inciting the violence tonight that resulting in two police shootings. Crump, a well-known defense attorney, knew his words would carry weight. “This is outrageous and offensive!” tweeted Crump.
Louisville’s grand jury was not swayed by the intimidating public atmosphere that has black leaders making wild claims of “systemic” racism not only in white police departments but in the public at large. Crump thinks the grand jury finding is “outrageous and offensive,” but he had no answer for Cameron and the grand jury. “The death of Breonna Taylor was a tragedy. But these officers did not act in a reckless or unprofessional manner,” said Mattingly’s attorney Kent J. Wicker. “They did their duty, performed their roles as law enforcement officers and, above all, did not break the law,” disputing Crump’s assertions, Black Lives Matters and other members of the African American community blaming white law enforcement for police brutality. Louisville police were very concerned about the street violence after two officers were shot just after a 9:00 PM curfew went into effect.
Louisville police are now dealing with incitement by Breonna-family defense attorney Ben Crump. “If Brett Harkinson’s behavior was wanton endangerment to people in neighboring apartments, then it should have been wanton endangerment in Breonna Taylor’s apartment too. In fact, it should have been wanton murder!” Crump tweeted. Crump knows that the grand jury found that returning fire after getting struck by Breonna’s boyfriend justified the officers discharging their service weapons. Crump knows that Cameron and the grand jury took a serious look at the evidence and applied it with the grand jury to appropriate police tactics after taking fire from a shooter. Breonna’s sister Ju’Nayah Palmer didn’t help things blaming the city where Breonna worked as an EMP-tech. Palmer said Breonna was “failed by the system” she “worked hard for,” stirring more unrest.
African Americans have been whipped up by Black Lives Matters and other anti-police groups to believe that racist police departments have declared “open season” on the African American community. You’d think with 18.000 police departments and 800,000 full-time police in the U.S., the public would take a more measured look at the law enforcement community. Every regrettable incident results in Black Lives Matters calling for de-funding police department around the country. Yet when violence takes place in inner cities like Chicago where black-on-black shooting has become all to common, the police form that thin blue line between anarchy and order, violence and peace. Black Lives Matter should look at the data showing that 503 residents of Chicago were shot in Aug, with 63 fatalities. Insolated police shootings like Breonna Taylor or Jacob Blake are rare compared to inner city violence.
U.S. citizens can’t have it both ways: Wanting the police to maintain an orderly-safe-society or de-funding police, letting violent criminals rule the streets like in Chicago. When agitators hear defense attorneys decrying racial injustice, they’re inadvertently stoke more racism and street violence. Whether admitted to or not, there’s no evidence that “systemic racism” caused the recent spate of police shootings, including the May 25 choke-hold-knee-on-the-neck death of 46-year-old George Floyd in Minneapolis. Democrat Presidential nominee 77-year-old former Vice President Joe Biden sided with Breonna Taylor over the Louisville police, asking whether today’s law enforcement can “deliver justice for Breonna,” stoking more violence. Biden knows the facts and heard from Kentucky’s attorney general, saying that the officers involved performed their jobs in accordance with the law..