Today, Center for Policing Equity Co-founder and CEO Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff released the following statement following Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s announcement regarding the police officers involved in Breonna Taylor’s death:
This afternoon, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced charges against only one of the three Louisville police officers, Brett Hankison, involved in the brutal, unjustifiable killing of Breonna Taylor. Breonna Taylor was killed, not merely endangered, as the charge against Officer Hankison suggests.
The vulgar decision to pursue only lesser charges against one officer — and completely absolve two others who callously disregarded a life they were sworn to protect — robs Ms. Taylor’s loved ones and the entire Louisville community of the accountability they deserve.
It also gravely damages efforts to build the more just, equitable systems of public safety that Americans are overwhelmingly calling for. To reduce violence and save lives, the relationship between law enforcement and the people they serve must be based on trust, not fear. The callous disregard for human life shown by these officers makes that trust impossible. As long as officials are unwilling to demand accountability when police kill without cause, a truly just system will remain not only far out of reach but far out of sight.
We stand with those who have grieved and fought for justice since that horrific night in March, and with those exercising their constitutional rights by continuing to call for action in Louisville and across the country. We will continue press for accountability in law enforcement every way we can — even if our elected leaders will not.