Louisville police officer involved in Breonna Taylor’s death fired 3 months later

The police chief says the officer showed “extreme indifference” to human life.

One of the three police officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor has been terminated from the force.

Brett Hankison was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department on Tuesday, more than three months after Taylor’s death.

Taylor, a 26-year-old African American emergency room technician, was killed by police on March 13 after the three officers used a “no-knock” warrant to enter her apartment around 12:40 a.m. as part of a drug investigation.

Earlier this month, the Louisville, Kentucky Metro Council unanimously passed Breonna’s Law, which outlaws “no-knock” warrants and requires that police body cameras be turned on before and after every search.

“Chief Schroeder is today initiating termination procedures against Louisville Metro police officer Brett Hankson,” Louisville, Kentucky, Mayor Greg Fischer said Tuesday.

Hankison’s termination letter, written by Chief of Police Robert J. Schroeder and published by the police department on Twitter, states that he was fired after he “displayed an extreme indifference to the value of human life” by firing 10 shots upon entering Taylor’s home unannounced — putting her and her neighbors in danger, as some shots also entered a neighbor’s apartment.

In fatally shooting Taylor, Schroeder said Hankison violated the force’s Obedience to Rules and Regulations guidelines, as well as the Use of Deadly Force rules.

“In fact the ten rounds you fired were into a patio door and window which were covered with material that completely prevented you from verifying any person as an immediate threat or more importantly any innocent persons present,” the letter states.

Schroeder also noted that Hankison was previously disciplined, on January 9, 2019, for “reckless conduct that injured an innocent person.”

Fischer said neither he nor Schroeder can discuss the announcement any further due to a state law that says no public statements can be made concerning an alleged violation of departmental rules “until final disposition of charges.”

“I find your conduct a shock to the conscience. I am alarmed and stunned you used deadly force in this fashion,” Fischer wrote in Hankison’s termination letter. “Your actions have brought discredit upon yourself and the Department.”