Breonna Taylor’s Sister Ejected From Court For Wearing Shirt Calling For Arrests Of Officers Involved In Fatal Shooting
Ju’Niyah Palmer, the sister of Breonna Taylor, was reportedly kicked out of court on Wednesday (Feb. 23) for wearing a shirt demanding the arrests of the officers who opened fire in the residence the 26-year-old was staying at when she was killed in March 2020.
But fired Louisville police detective Brett Hankison has been charged in relation to Taylor’s passing and is not on trial for her death. Instead, he’s facing charges of wanton endangerment because rounds he allegedly “blindly” fired entered a neighboring apartment, putting a couple and their child at risk.
Palmer told Law&Crime Network that she was told the t-shirt, which reads “Arrest the Cops Who Killed Breonna Taylor” was inappropriate to wear in the presence of jurors because it could present bias. The judge presiding over Hankison’s trial reportedly asked Palmer to change her shirt.
“I left because I just feel like they’re running around in circles about what really happened instead of actually really presenting why they’re there,” Palmer said to Law&Crime, voicing her frustration with the state’s case because prosecutors didn’t bring charges over her sister’s death.
Hankison filed a motion last month for him to testify in the February trial. He is charged with three counts of wanton endangerment and pleaded not guilty but no one was charged for Taylor’s death.
An internal investigation conducted by the Louisville Metro Police Department determined that the three officers involved, Hankison, Jonathan Mattingly, and Myles Cosgrove, should not have fired shots into her apartment in the fatal botched raid.
In documents obtained by ABC News, the department’s Professional Standards Unit determined that the three officers should have held their fire after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot, believing intruders had broken into their home.
According to an FBI ballistics report, Cosgrove fired the shot that killed Taylor while Hankison, standing outside of the apartment door, fired ten rounds into the apartment through a patio door with drawn blinds.
It was found that Hankison fired three shots into a wall that connected to the adjacent apartment, which resulted in the wanton endangerment charge.
Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove will also testify at Hankison’s trial, according to reports.
