The FBI arrested former Louisville police officer Joshua Janes Thursday morning after his involvement in the 2020 murder of Breona Taylor, Fox News confirmed.
Three other current or former Louisville police officers have also been charged with civil rights violations, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Wednesday.
“The federal charges announced today allege that members of the crime scene investigation unit falsified the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant at Ms. Taylor’s home — that this act violated federal civil rights laws and that those violations led to Mrs Taylor’s death. Garland said.
“Specifically, we allege that Ms. Taylor’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated when defendants Joshua Janes, Kyle Meaney and Kelly Goodlett sought a warrant to search Ms. Taylor’s home knowing that the officers did not have probable cause to search,” he added.
BREONNA TAYLOR’S DEATH: FORMER LOUISVILLE POLICE OFFICER CHARGED IN 2020 SHOOTING EXCUSED ON ALL EVIDENCE
Janes was fired from the Louisville Police Department in January 2021 after his superiors said he lied about paperwork leading up to the March 2020 raid on Taylor’s apartment in which she was killed.
“The charges announced today also allege that the officers responsible for falsifying the affidavit that led to the investigation took steps to cover up their illegal conduct after Ms. Taylor’s murder,” Garland said. “We allege that defendants Jaynes and Goodlett conspired to knowingly falsify an investigation document created after Ms. Taylor’s death.
“We also allege that they conspired to mislead federal, state and local authorities investigating the incident,” he added. “For example, we allege that in May 2020, these two defendants met in a garage where they agreed to tell investigators a false story.”
“Another indictment filed today alleges that after Ms. Taylor was shot, another LMPD officer, defendant Brett Hankison, moved from the door to the side of her apartment and fired 10 more shots through a window into a sliding glass door , both of which were covered with blinds and curtains,” Garland also said. “Defendant Hankison was charged with two civil rights offenses, alleging that he intentionally used unconstitutional excessive force while acting in his official capacity as an officer.”
Former Louisville, Kentucky police officer Brett Hankison, the only officer previously charged in connection with the raid that resulted in Taylor’s death, was acquitted in March of this year.
Hankison, 45, had been accused of shooting through sliding glass side doors and a window of Taylor’s apartment during the drug bust that left the 26-year-old black woman dead. Hankison’s lawyers never disputed the ballistics evidence, but said he fired 10 bullets because he thought his colleagues were being “executed.”
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Hankison testified during the trial that he saw a muzzle flash from Taylor’s dark hallway after police broke down the door and thought the officers were coming under heavy fire, so he quickly ran around a corner and sprayed 10 bullets, hoping to end the standoff. threatening.
Taylor, an emergency medical technician who had been sleeping when officers broke down her door, was shot multiple times and died at the scene.
Fox News’ Stephanie Pagones and The Associated Press contributed to this report.