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Four police officers federally charged with civil rights violation in Breonna Taylor death

A woman visits the memorial for Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, September 11, 2020.

Bryan Woolston | Reuters

Four current or former police officers in Louisville, Kentucky, have been charged with violating Breonna Taylor‘s civil rights in the 2020 botched raid that led to her death, federal officials said Thursday.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, in announcing the charges, said the Justice Department alleges that the violations “resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death.”

Detective Joshua Jaynes, with the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, obtained the no-knock warrant used in the March 13, 2020, search of Taylor’s apartment.

Jaynes, Kelly Goodlett, who along with Jaynes was a detective in the Place-Based Investigations unit that investigated drug trafficking, and Sgt. Kyle Meany, who supervised the unit, were charged with falsifying an affidavit.

In a separate indictment, Brett Hankison was charged with using excessive force while executing the search warrant.

“The federal charges announced today allege that members of the Place-Based Investigations Unit falsified the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant of Ms. Taylor’s home,” Garland said, adding “that this act violated federal civil rights laws and that those violations resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death.”

During the early morning raid, officers opened fire, killing Taylor, after her boyfriend, believing an intruder was trying to break in, fired a gun toward the door.

The bungled raid targeted Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, a convicted drug dealer, who was not in the apartment at the time. That man, Jamarcus Glover, has said Taylor had no involvement in the drug trade.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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