UPDATE: Fired cop says he did nothing wrong in Breonna Taylor raid

Update from March 2, 2022:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Former Louisville detective Brett Hankison testified in his own defense Wednesday about his actions during the police raid that left Breonna Taylor dead, saying the gunfire began with a muzzle flash that illuminated a shadowy silhouette, and he thought it was someone firing an automatic rifle at his fellow officers.

Hankison is not on trial for the 26-year-old Black woman’s death but for firing bullets that went into an adjacent apartment, endangering a pregnant neighbor, her young child and her boyfriend.

Asked if he did anything wrong during the raid, Hankison replied, “absolutely not,” even though he acknowledged firing into the window and patio door. As for Taylor, he said, “She didn’t need to die that night.” Breonna Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, then stormed out of the courtroom.

Hankison said that as a police battering ram broke open Taylor’s door, the blast of a gun lit up the apartment’s hallway and his fellow officer fell wounded in the doorway. He said he thought the muzzle flash matched that of a long rifle, but no rifle was found in the apartment.

“The percussion from that muzzle flash I could feel,” Hankison said, apparently struggling to maintain his composure as he described Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly going down.

Hankison said he decided “to get out of that fatal funnel as quickly as possible and get to a location where I can return rounds,” so he ran around a corner where he could see more muzzle flashes through a sliding glass door and a bedroom window, despite their closed blinds and curtains. Only one round was fired by Taylor’s boyfriend, who said he thought an intruder was breaking in.

“I knew Sgt. Mattingly was down and I knew they were trying to get to him and it appeared to me they were being executed with this rifle,” Hankison said. “I thought I could put rounds through that bedroom window and stop the threat.”

Hankison said he fired first into the patio door, and when he saw continued muzzle flashes, he fired into the bedroom window of Taylor’s apartment. He is charged with three counts of wanton endangerment, a felony that carries a sentence of one to five years.

The prosecution finished presenting its case on Tuesday with testimony from Chelsey Napper, who called 911 after Hankison’s gunfire ripped through her apartment, which shared a common wall with Taylor’s. Hankison is chared with endanering Napper, her 5-year-old son and her boyfriend, Cody Etherton, while his fellow officers exchanged gunfire with Taylor’s boyfriend during the raid next door.

Hankison was fired by police for shooting “blindly” during the raid on March 13, 2020. He fired 10 shots, none of which hit Taylor or her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. No police were charged in the Black woman’s death.

Walker told investigators that he had fired a single shot with a handgun because he thought intruders were breaking in. Walker’s bullet hit Mattingly in the leg, and Mattingly and another officer, Myles Cosgrove, opened fire in response, killing Taylor.

Hankison told investigators about two weeks after the raid that he had looked inside Taylor’s apartment once officers broke open the door and thought he saw “a figure in a shooting stance” with a long gun or AR-15 rifle. His lawyer said Hankison then backed away, rounded a corner and fired shots through Taylor’s sliding glass door and bedroom window to “defend and save the lives of his fellow officers.”

During opening statements, prosecutors emphasized to jurors that the case is not about the killing of Taylor or police decisions that led to the raid.  They said the focus should be on Hankison’s shots and the near harm they caused.

Update from March 1, 2022:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A police firearms instructor said Louisville officers are trained to identify a target before firing weapons in a threatening situation as testimony continued in the trial of a former officer charged in the raid that left Breonna Taylor dead.

Former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison is charged with firing into a neighbor’s apartment during the botched March 2020 narcotics raid. Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was fatally shot by two other officers after Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot that hit an officer who had burst through the front door.

Tuesday began the second week of the trial. Last week, jurors visited Taylor’s former apartment and heard testimony from several officers who were at the scene that night.

Hankison was fired a few months after the early morning March 13, 2020, narcotics raid for firing “blindly” into Taylor’s apartment. He fired 10 shots, though none hit Taylor. Some of his shots went through Taylor’s apartment and into a neighbor’s dwelling with a shared wall.

Matt Gelhausen, a firearms instructor with Louisville police, said Tuesday that officers are taught to make sure a perceived threat is isolated “from any others that are in close proximity.”

Hankison’s attorney has argued that Hankison moved away from Taylor’s door, rounded a corner and fired shots into Taylor’s glass door to “defend and save the lives of his fellow officers.” Hankison told investigators about two weeks after the raid that he thought he saw a person with a long gun or AR-15 rife inside Taylor’s apartment. That interview with Louisville police investigators was played for the jury last week.

Only Taylor’s boyfriend’s handgun was found in the apartment. The boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, and Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, were in the courtroom Tuesday along with other family members.

Walker told investigators after the shooting that he thought an intruder was breaking into the apartment. Police used a battering ram to take down the door and Walker’s bullet hit former police Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the leg. After Walker’s shot, Mattingly and another officer, Myles Cosgrove, opened fire into the apartment, but struck Taylor. Walker was not hurt.

Hankison told investigators in the March 2020 interview that he looked into the door once it came down and thought he saw “a figure in a shooting stance.”

Gelhausen agreed with Hankison’s attorney, Stewart Mathews, during questioning that serving search warrants is “an inherently dangerous task.”

During opening statements last week, prosecutors emphasized to jurors that the case is not about the killing of Taylor or police decisions that led to the raid. They said the focus should be on Hankison’s shots and the near harm they caused.

Hankison is charged with three counts of wanton endangerment, a felony with a sentencing range of one to five years.

AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, Pool

Original story below from February 25, 2022:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Jurors in the trial for the only person criminally charged in the deadly 2020 raid that resulted in the death of Breonna Taylor have visited the scene of the shooting in Louisville on Friday.

Brett Hankison, a former Kentucky police officer, is charged with three counts of wanton endangerment, a felony with a range of one to five years in prison.

Taylor, 26, a Black woman, worked as an emergency medical tech and was settling down for bed on March 13, 2020, when Louisville officers with a narcotics warrant kicked in her door. They drew fire from Taylor’s boyfriend, who thought an intruder was breaking in. Two officers at the door returned fire, killing Taylor. Neither was charged in her death. Louisville settled with her family for $12 million.

Judge Ann Bailey Smith instructed members of the jury to not speak about the scene to the attorneys or with each other on the visit. The trip to the site is to help the jurors better understand court exhibits, she explained.

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, and sister, Juniyah Palmer, also sat in on the trial Friday morning.

AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, Pool