Louisville Council Passes ‘Breonna’s Law’ Banning No-Knock Warrants in Wake of Breonna Taylor Killing

The Louisville, Kentucky, metro council has passed a law banning no-knock warrants following the killing of Breonna Taylor by three police officers back in March. The vote passed with a unanimous 26-0 in favor of the ordinance, according to WLKY. Mayor Greg Fischer has already tweeted his plans to sign it “as soon as it hits my desk.”

Taylor was shot at least eight times by three plainclothes police officers who entered her home via battering ram after serving a no-knock warrant. The officers involved were reportedly tracking two persons of interest in a drug-related case, who had already been taken into custody prior to her killing. The address on the warrant was also roughly 10 miles away from Taylor’s home, as well. Her mother, Tamika Palmer, told CNN that Taylor “would have been amazed to see the world changing.”

The official report on Taylor’s death was released by the police department on Wednesday, though the fact that it contained numerous falsehoods or outright omissions, raised a few eyebrows. The four-page report lists the time, date, case number, incident location and Taylor’s full name, Breonna Shaquille Taylor, and the fact that she was a 26-year-old Black female. It fails to provide her street address, apartment number or date of birth, despite the fact they’ve been widely reported in the months since her killing.

It also lists her injuries as “none,” even though it’s been reported she was shot at least eight times and died in her hallway floor in a pool of her own blood, according to the family’s attorney. The charges are listed as “death investigation” and states that there was no “forced entry,” despite the fact the three officers used a battering ram.

Additionally, the “Offenders” portion of the report lists the three officers who fired inside Taylor’s apartment, Sgt. Jon Mattingly, Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison. All three have claimed that they announced their presence before they entered. However, Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, says that wasn’t the case, a testament that some of Taylor’s neighbors back up. Walker, who believed their home was being broken into to, fired a warning shot which struck Mattingly in the leg.