Ex-Officer Brett Hankison Found Not Guilty of Endangering Neighbors During Breonna Taylor Raid

Brett Hankison, the former police officer who was indicted in the Breonna Taylor raid, has been found not guilty of endangering Taylor’s neighbors, The Daily Beast reports.

The 45-year-old Kentucky man was facing three wanton endangerment charges for firing bullets that entered a neighbor’s unit during the 2020 shooting. Hankison was the only officer charged in connection to the botched raid, which left Taylor—a 26-year-old Black woman—dead.

During the trial, Hankison said he and his fellow officers had forcefully entered Taylor’s home in the early hours of March 13 to execute a search warrant. Moments after police rammed through the door, Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker—a licensed gun owner who was in bed with Taylor at the time—opened fire at what he thought were intruders. A shootout ensued within the apartment, and Hankison ended up firing multiple rounds.

Though Hankison’s shots never hit Taylor, they did enter a neighboring unit while a pregnant woman and 5-year-old child were inside. The Louisville Metro Police Department terminated Hankison four months after the raid, accusing him of “blindly firing 10 rounds into the apartment.” In September 2020, a grand jury indicted Hankison with wanton endangerment.

This story is being updated.