The attorneys for the family of Breonna Taylor, led by civil rights veteran Ben Crump, released a statement earlier this afternoon in response to the Jefferson County Grand Jury's decision to indict only one officer involved in her killing on trivial charges.
"This is outrageous and offensive to Breonna Taylor's memory," the statement bluntly stated. "It's yet another example of no accountability for the genocide of persons of color by white police officers."
The Taylor family's legal team asserted that the killing was "criminal on so many levels," citing "an illegal warrant obtained by perjury" and a "documented and clear cover-up" of gross police misconduct.
Crump elaborated on his disbelief in reaction to the minor charges filed against Hankison on Twitter, writing that "it should have been ruled wanton murder."
https://twitter.com/_/status/1308826808733794305
The statement also confirmed rumours that the three charges against ex-officer Brett Hankison were for endangering the lives and property of Ms. Taylor's white neighbours, with the threat to her Black neighbour glossed over by the Grand Jury.
"How ironic and typical that the only charges brought in this case were for shots fired into the apartment of a white neighbor, while not charges were brought for the shots fired into the Black neighbor's apartment or into Breonna's residence," the statement read. "This amounts to the most egregious disrespect of Black people, especially Black women, killed by police in America, and it's indefensible."
Despite the discouraging news which "falls far short of what constitutes justice," the lawyers vowed to stay the course through an FBI investigation that will hopefully bring forth the justice "that the Grand Jury refused her today."
"By no means does [today's news] define this movement or this moment in our history," they wrote. "Make no mistake, we will keep fighting this fight in Breonna's memory and we will never stop saying her name."
