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Her name lives on!

The Justice Department announced Thursday, August 4 that four Louisville police officers, have been charged with civil rights crimes in connection with the deadly raid on Breonna Taylor’s home.

According to officials, the former detective who was fired for falsifying the search warrant that resulted in her murder is among the officers now facing charges.

“Breonna Taylor should be alive today,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated.

Garland continued, expressing that Federal officials “share but cannot fully imagine the grief,” that Taylor’s family is experiencing.

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On March 13, 2020, while executing a no-knock warrant, Louisville police entered Taylor’s home and shot her to death. She was a 26-year-old Black medical worker.

As the officers walked through the door, Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot that struck one of them. The officers then returned fire, hitting Taylor six times. Police fired thirty-two shots in total.

Her murder served as a national call to action as protests against racism and police brutality erupted across the country in 2020.

“This is a day when Black women saw equal justice in America,” civil rights attorney, and Taylor’s family’s lawyer Benjamin Crump stated.

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Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother, claimed that she has withstood “everything sent to break” her and has waited 874 days for federal charges to be brought against her daughter’s murderers. She added that the loss of her daughter had brought her to a “place that we can’t even imagine.”

“Every day’s been March 13 for me,” Palmer revealed.

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Prior to the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department’s raid, former detective Joshua Jaynes, detective Kelly Goodlett, and sergeant Kyle Meany were accused of submitting a false affidavit to search Taylor’s home and then conspiring to fabricate a “false cover story in an attempt to escape responsibility for their roles in preparing the warrant affidavit that contained false information,” according to court documents.

Charges have also been brought against Brett Hankison, a former member of the Louisville Metro Police Department who was complicit in Breonna Taylor’s killing.

Hankison is accused of two civil rights crimes, including deprivation of rights under color of law, in a two-count indictment.

When there was no longer a “lawful objective justifying the use of deadly force,” Hankison allegedly used disproportionate force that violated the constitution by firing 10 rounds through a window and sliding glass door covered in blinds and curtains in Taylor’s home.

Photo by: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

“Today’s overdue but it still hurts,” Palmer said. “Breonna didn’t deserve that.”

We will continue to #SayHerName! Our condolences go out to Breonna Taylor’s loved ones at this time.

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