More than a year after Breonna Taylor was killed by police officers who were executing a search warrant, the Department of Justice is launching an investigation into the practices of the Louisville Metro Police Department.
Attorney General Merrick Garland made the announcement Monday afternoon.
The investigation seeks to determine if Louisville police have engaged in a history of abusive and unlawful tactics with little accountability. It will also be looking into whether the department engages in unreasonable force, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and unlawful executions of search warrants on private homes, and how the tactics impact minority groups.
Breonna Taylor was just 26 when she was shot and killed in March 2020 after three white plainclothes officers forced entry to her apartment while serving a warrant as part of an investigation into drug dealing. Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot, which led the Louisville officers to shoot 32 times. Six bullets hit Taylor. Mass protests erupted after Taylor’s death, as civil rights activists called for greater police accountability for the deaths of Taylor and numerous other Black people during police-involved situations.
One Louisville officer was fired, and the city agreed to a $12 million settlement with Taylor’s family, but no charges were brought by a grand jury against the officers who fired on Taylor.
This investigation is the second in less than a week announced by Garland’s Justice Department. He also said it will look into the practices and patterns of behavior of the Minneapolis Police Department following the guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin in George Floyd’s murder.