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Louisville Council Passes ‘Breonna’s Law,’ Banning ‘No Knock’ Warrants To Honor EMT Killed By Police

The ordinance was passed in honor of the EMT worker slain in her own home.

The Louisville City Council voted unanimously Thursday night (June 11) to ban “no knock” warrants in a new ordinance called “Breonna’s Law.” 

The move is in response to the police shooting death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT who was killed March 13 when Louisville police officers broke into her apartment in a botched drug investigation.

The city’s mayor, Greg Fischer said he would sign the new law “as soon as it hits my desk.”

"I suspended use of these warrants indefinitely last month, and wholeheartedly agree with [the] council that the risk to residents and officers with this kind of search outweigh any benefit," he tweeted.

According to the Louisvile Courier-Journal, the new law also requires that officers who are serving warrants must wear body cameras, activate them at least five minutes before they execute the warrants, and not turn them off until at least five minutes after the serving has ended.

Court records indicate that police got a no-knock warrant from Jefferson County (Ky.) Circuit Judge Mary Shaw to apprehend a suspect on drug charges. But it turned out the suspect was already in custody when the raid took place. No drugs were recovered from the apartment.

Officials say that the cops did knock and announced their presence, but Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, has said he never heard any knock and thought the police were intruders breaking in after midnight. He opened fire with his weapon, striking one officer. He was charged with attempted murder, but those charges were later dropped. 

None of the officers, identified as Brett Hankison, Myles Cosgrove, and Jonathan Mattingly, have been charged with any crime or have faced termination.

"All Breonna wanted to do was save lives," said Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, to the council before the vote. "So it's important this law passes, because with that, she'll get to continue to do that, even in her death."

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