>> The grand jury has indicted one police officer from Louisville, Kentucky in connection
to the death of Breonna Taylor. Sergeant Brett Hankinson is the only one who will face any
charges. In fact, three counts of first degree wanton endangerment, but it's not because
of Breonna Taylor dying. It's because he just fired his weapon indiscriminately and could
have killed others.
As you guys can recall, after cops opened fire, some of those bullets actually went
into the apartment next door. And so, those are the charges that one of the cops is facing.
So, wanton endangerment is an act or an instance of putting someone or something in danger
or exposure to peril or harm.
Louisville police previously fired Hankinson, who was found to have fire ten shots blindly
into Taylor's apartment. The police department said Hankison had displayed an extreme indifference
to the value of human life. The charges that were filed accuse him of firing blindly into
several apartments and recklessly endangering Taylor's neighbors, but do not charge him
with firing at or killing Taylor.
Taylor's family had called for nothing less than manslaughter charges. And clearly, those
charges never came to fruition. Bond for Harrison was set at $15,000 full cash. And as you guys
can probably imagine, there's a lot of rage throughout the country over this additional
case of injustice. We're talking about an innocent person who was killed in her own
apartment by cops who had obtained a no knock warrant.
By lying to the judge about the post office saying that there were suspicious packages
going to Breonna Taylor's home. Of course, the post office inspector later said that
no one from the post office had told the police department that at all but doesn't matter.
Doesn't matter that they lied about that, doesn't matter that they lied about not wearing
body cams.
Later, through some investigative reporting, we found out that they were wearing cameras.
They just didn't turn it on. There was some evidence of tampering with the scene, based
on photos that were taken shortly after the shooting, and then what the scene looked like
later. So, I mean, there are all sorts of issues here, and we're supposed to just believe
what the cops in this case said, when which is, hey, we announced ourselves as cops.
And that's when Breonna Taylor's husband decided to open fire which is why we returned fire.
But it would be weird, right, to obtain a no knock warrant and then proceed to knock
and announce yourself as you're undergoing a raid. I just, I don't believe them. I don't
think that there's justice in this case.
I can understand the anger because I feel it myself. John, why don't you jump in?
>> Yeah, so this was announced while we were filming the Damage Report this morning, and
we just got sort of a one sentence summary of it. And I stupidly thought that this is
sort of a light sentence for one cop having to do with her death.
And I thought, I'm actually kind of shocked by this. I mean, obviously, this doesn't go
nearly far enough, but at least it's something. And then with every detail that's come out
since then, it's become more and more of a farce. Almost like, I guess it's not, but
it feels almost like having the charge at all is more of an insult than not having anything.
Because it sort of implies, no, we considered the possibility that killing this woman would
be a bad thing. That it's in some way wrong or should have consequences. We're not interested
in that. We're gonna deal with the possibility that someone else could have been hurt. Although
I have to wonder, if they had hit another person, would the cops that haven't gotten
away with that in some way.
We have to have access to the actual evidence that was presented more information about
the procedure that led to this being the one charge. Because it really does seem like it
was manipulated and biased in a number of different ways to make sure that there was
effectively nothing that came out of it.
>> Yeah, it's beyond insulting because essentially, what these charges indicate is, yeah, an innocent
black woman is dead. But that is not what we're going to hold anyone accountable for.
It's just the recklessness of opening fire in a way that could have harmed others. It's
just so let's hear from the Attorney General, the top prosecutor who brought the evidence
before the grand jury.
Let's hear what he has to say. His name is Daniel Cameron.
>> My job is to present the facts to the grand jury and the grand jury that applies those
facts to the law. If we simply act on emotion or outrage, there is no justice. Mob justice
is not justice.
Justice sought by violence is not justice, it just becomes revenge. And in our system,
criminal justice isn't the quest for revenge. It's the quest for truth, evidence and facts
and the use of that truth as we fairly apply our laws.
>> So I really don't understand how any of this is justice.
How anyone can look at what the outcome of this case is and say, no, no, we did it right.
This is how justice is carried out. Again, we're talking about a woman who was killed
in her own apartment. There was absolutely no evidence that she was engaged in any type
of illicit behavior, any type of illegal behavior.
There were no drugs found in the home, no money found in the home. This no knock warrant
was carried out past midnight. You have plain closed cops using a battering ram to enter
someone's apartment in the middle of the night. We're in a country that's supposed to value
the second amendment so people can protect themselves in case there are intruders in
their homes.
And so Kenneth Walker, Breonna Taylor's boyfriend, sees these people, plainclothes individuals
come into his home, he fires a warning shot. And that's all he needed to do, right? Just
fire that warning shot, didn't kill anyone, injured one of the cops. And then they can
just go ahead and reign terror, shoot as many bullets as they want into that apartment.
And just as long as they don't do it in a way that might harm other people in other
units in that apartment building, right? That's the only thing that anyone might be held accountable
for. And remember, this doesn't mean that he's been convicted. This just means that
there will be charges filed against one cop.
He still needs to stand trial so there could even conceivably be a situation in which he's
not even found guilty or convicted of this. >> Exactly, and I can't help but I know we're
gonna talk about one of these two stories later on. So I won't go too in detail into
that.
But Fox is trying to use the past charges of murder victims as a justification for them
being killed. But police officers with a long documented record of incredibly irresponsible
violent criminal acts were not allowed to have that influence. Or decisions about, or
evaluations, about their decision to use force when it's the time they've brutalized someone.
It doesn't matter what they've done in the past, but if you're the victim of violence,
then anything you've done wrong can and will be used against you. I understand it's not
involved in the judicial proceedings here but this is our country. It seems increasingly
to be an accurate reflection of what we think is just I mean, it's been six months and this
is it, six months.
>> Yeah, I know. When the news first broke, I have to be honest. I mean, like I've become,
I expect to be let down, right? So I saw the rage and everything on Twitter and I'm not
trying to say I don't feel rage. It's just that the rage is so it's a mainstay in our
lives, at this point.
That when it happens, you don't really feel anything, right? You become kind of numb to
it. So I wanna read from our members, we read your comments during the show. We want to
hear what you have to say and you guys can become a member if you're not already by going
to tyt.com/join.
Max's mama says in light of this travesty of justice, where none of the police officers
liable for Breonna Taylor's There's desert being charged, no knock warrants need to be
banned. This tragedy would not have happened if the police had not entered the residence
on a no knock warrant.
I mean, I agree with you on that. There's no question about it and thank you for writing
in but, I mean, it doesn't go far enough. The cop who gunned down 12-year-old Tamir
Rice didn't need a no knock warrant to do it. I mean, this is a virus that is infected
every single Police Department throughout the country and simply doing some reform on
the edges.
Albeit, it's an important reform, but it just doesn't go far enough, right? I just think
that what we're seeing right now is case after case of armed militia members. Right wingers
gunning down protesters and the country rallies in their defence. They're defending themselves
from these unhinged lunatic protesters who have the audacity to demand justice and actual
reform and police departments.
But when it comes to someone like Breonna Taylor, what does she do wrong? What did she
do to deserve it? And how would anyone feel if they saw a family member lose their life
like that, get gunned down like that. And there are no criminal charges for that aspect
of what happened that night.
No one's being charged criminally for gunning her down. It's crazy. All right, and I do
also want to read from the attorney, Benjamin Crump, who on Twitter said the grand jury's
decision in the killing of Breonna Taylor is outrageous and offensive to her memory.
It's yet another example of no accountability for the genocide of persons of color by white
police officers.
With all we know about Breonna Taylor's killing, how could a fair and just system result in
today's decision? Yeah, I totally I mean, I totally agree with that.