A grand jury indicted one officer in the death of African American Louisville, Ky., resident Breonna Taylor, a nurse who was shot to death in a botched police raid in March.
Officer Brett Hankinsen was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment and faces a possible one to five years in prison for each count.
Hankinsen was one of three officers who fired their weapons during a raid on Taylor’s apartment, ostensibly as part of a drug bust. Taylor’s boyfriend thought the police were intruders and fired his licensed handgun at them, and Taylor was killed in the crossfire. No drugs were found at the apartment.
The other two officers who fired their weapons, Myles Cosgrove and John Mattingly, will not be charged. Mattingly was shot during the raid, and on Tuesday sent a letter to colleagues saying that they “did the legal, moral and ethical thing that night” when they opened fire.
Louisville mayor Greg Fischer declared a curfew beginning at 9 p.m. on Wednesday evening in anticipation of demonstrations following the indictment.
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