The FBI arrested and filed civil rights charges against Joshua Jaynes, Brett Hankison and Kelly Goodlett, along with the servant of Louisville Police Sergeant Kyle Meany. The development was announced by US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday, who said the alleged crimes include “civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction offences”. Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old black physician, was shot to death by Louisville police officers who had broken down her door while serving a search warrant. Mr Garland added: “We also alleged that they conspired to mislead federal, state and local authorities investigating the incident. “For example, we alleged that in May 2020, these two defendants (Jaynes and Goodlett) met in a garage where they agreed to tell investigators a false story. “The indictment separately alleges that defendant Meany lied to the FBI during its investigation of this matter.” He also said federal officials “share but cannot fully imagine the grief” Taylor’s family is feeling. Her murder, along with that of George Floyd, sparked a summer of protests against racial injustice and police brutality in America two years ago. Their deaths came against a backdrop of systemic racism in the US, where black Americans are 3.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans, according to a study last year. Ms. Taylor was killed when police officers in Louisville, Kentucky, executed a “no-knock” warrant and broke down her apartment door. Her boyfriend thought someone was breaking in and shot himself in self-defense, hitting a police officer in the leg. Ms Taylor was shot multiple times when police fired dozens of shots in return. Police were actually looking for an ex-partner of Ms Taylor who did not live at the address and no drugs were found at the property. Hankinson was acquitted in March by a Kentucky jury of endangering Taylor’s neighbors when the bullets he fired during the raid struck a neighboring apartment.
