The charges against Kenneth Walker, the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, have been dropped permanently.
Walker had been charged with the attempted murder of a police officer for firing a weapon at officers who were attempting to execute a no-knock warrant. Taylor, a black, 26-year-old emergency room technician, was fatally shot as officers returned fire.
Judge Olu Stevens waived the charges permanently on Monday, per the Courier-Journal. The decision, which came at the recommendation of Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine, occurred after the charges were dropped without prejudice, meaning that the charges could have been restored.
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“As such, the commonwealth moves the court to amend its prior dismissal of this matter without prejudice to a dismissal with prejudice,” according to the filing signed by Wine and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Ebert Haegele.
The Jefferson Circuit Court did not immediately reply to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
On March 13, 2020, almost a year ago, Detective Myles Cosgrove, along with Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Brett Hankison, entered the home Taylor shared with Walker. Once the door was breached, Walker, fearing a home invasion, discharged his weapon, prompting the officers to return fire. Amid the volley of bullets, Taylor was struck dead, with two of the sixteen shots fired by Cosgrove found lodged in her body.
In October, Hankison was charged with three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment.
Prosecutors claimed he endangered Taylor’s neighbors when he returned fire into a neighboring apartment. If convicted, Hankison, who was fired from the police department, could face up to five years in prison for each count. The other two officers involved in the March raid were not charged.
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A wave of nationwide protests ensued after the grand jury opted not to charge any of the officers for the death of Taylor. Many of the protests coincided with those sparked by the death of George Floyd, another unarmed black person who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes while he said he couldn’t breathe.
Their deaths, among the most high-profile deaths of the Black Lives Matter movement, inspired renewed public scrutiny of police conduct and use of force rules and regulations.
