In a piece at City Journal Rafael A. Mangual comments on the death of Breonna Taylor:
The publicly available evidence in Taylor’s case (so far) supports four assertions: that police officers had the legal right to enter Breonna Taylor’s home; that it was reasonable for Walker to believe the apartment was being broken into, and that he therefore had the legal right to fire at the officers before realizing who they were; that police had the legal right to return fire; and that none of the parties involved committed a crime with respect to the shootings of Taylor and Mattingly. The last of these is the main point of contention for police critics, who see the failure to prosecute police for shooting Taylor as emblematic of a pattern: blacks get killed by police without anyone being held accountable.
While no criminal charges have been filed against officers for Taylor’s death, Louisville has settled a wrongful-death suit filed by Taylor’s family for $12 million. That obviously can’t ease the pain of Taylor’s grieving family; but the payout undermines the claim that agents of the state can kill with legal impunity. The settlement also contradicts suggestions that Taylor’s family wouldn’t be able to sue thanks to the controversial doctrine of qualified immunity, which exempts government officials operating in a discretionary capacity from being sued, unless they were acting in some egregiously unconstitutional manner.
I’ve read a number of media reports and opinion pieces on the incident. Perhaps it has been reported and I neglected to see it but one of the things I’m missing from the accounts is what was the probable cause that caused the judge to issue the search warrant that ultimately led to police killing Ms. Taylor? It seems to me that’s very relevant.
Let me take the temperature here. What factors led to the death of Breonna Taylor?
- Policy failure
- “Individual missteps” by the police
- “Individual missteps” by Ms. Taylor and her associates
- Malice on the part of the police
- Poor judgment on Ms. Taylor’s part
- Excessive fear on the part of the police
- Excessive fear on the part of Ms. Taylor’s associates
- I don’t have enough information to tell.
- Other
It seems to me that your answers are practically a litmus test on your political views.
A- No Knock raids are inherently life threatening. If we are going to have them they should be limited to people suspected of violent crimes. Using them for drug searches is wrong.
B- As I understand it, the police were supposed to confirm that the criminal for whom they were searching was at the address. They did not. Breonna Taylor was a person of interest but not a criminal suspect. There should never be a no knock raid with its risks for a person of interest.
No evidence of which I am aware for C-G.
I would add that yet there was a money settlement, but wha incentives do police have to change? Taxpayers paid out that money, not the police. Maybe a percentage comes out of their pay when they screw up badly enough?
Steve
A: Policy failure.
No knock warrants aren’t worth the risk. Police yelling through the closed door for 45 seconds or a minute are not enough for sleeping people to awake and make good decisions .
Sounds like an ex-boyfriend may have been using her mailbox to receive drugs. Whether she knew or not is unknown.
They should have asked her first.
But, given that police officers were following policy and were fired on and one hit, you can’t say that they should be charged with anything other than doing their jobs.
Steve:
Incentives.
In the medical professions, can you think of a circumstance where a mistake leads to prison for the practitioner?
For police that can happen.
For truckers that can happen, it’s called motor vehicle 🚗 homicide. Incentive enough.
There’s no such thing as an accident, under the law.