Along with power comes responsibility and accountability, almost like a system of checks and balances, but it seems as though our state government gives the police the ability to misuse their power and not be lawfully held accountable.

Former Louisville Metro Police Officer Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment after firing 10 rounds into Breonna Taylor’s apartment with fellow officers Myles Cosgrove and Johnathon Mattingly on March 13, 2020.

Although some of his rounds did hit Taylor, investigators concluded it was not Hankison who delivered the fatal shot; however three of the 10 rounds he did shoot went through a sliding glass door to the apartment neighboring Taylor’s. Court testimony shows he couldn’t see beyond the door.

Kentucky law defines wanton endangerment, a Class D felony, as someone deliberately acting in a way that results in the endangerment, death or physical injury of another person.

Unknowingly shooting into someone else’s home is an obvious act of endangerment. But the issue is more complex.

According to the Louisville Courier-Journal’s article “Dozens rally to protest not guilty verdict for Brett Hankison in Breonna Taylor raid,” Hankison said he was acting in defense of his fellow officers.

Before forcefully entering into Taylor’s home at around midnight in plain-clothes and without any body cameras, the officers announced their entry, which was not audible to Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker.

Thinking the officers were intruders, Walker fired shots. The officers responded with shots of their own, and Taylor was killed in the process.

Although the shooting was initiated by Walker, with their power, police should be able to wisely respond in a way safe for everyone. This was not an equal playing field: it was one person vs. law enforcement.

Trained with de-escalation methods, law enforcement have alternative methods to handle a situation rather than resorting to deadly force first.

Police officers should have a plan when executing a warrant and – should it become chaotic – be able to contain an incident rather than escalate it.

Hankison’s acquittal symbolizes how police have acted without a regard toward the lives of the people they are meant to protect in order to pursue what is seen as justice. 

We at The News believe Hankison could have acted differently in order to not endanger the lives of those in the neighboring apartment.

The officers executing a “no-knock” warrant at around midnight was their first mistake that sparked the endangerment. Any reasonable person would expect that at around midnight people may be asleep.

Although Hankison will not see punishment by the law, at least the incident has served as a wake-up call to Kentucky lawmakers. According to the NPR piece “Kentucky task force recommends search warrant changes after Breonna Taylor’s death,” lawmakers are working toward adding additional guidelines to the search warrant process.

Possible guidelines include changes such as more training in executing search warrants, considering appropriate times in the day when going about search warrants and having to get clearance from a prosecutor before pursuing a search warrant.

We at The News are happy to see lawmakers making an effort to create more stringent guidelines, but on the flipside, options exist to no-knock warrants. To date, four states have banned no-knock warrants.

The goal of a no-knock warrant is to surprise and surround a suspect and preserve evidence. Experts have suggested following or surveiling a person away from home and attempting warrant service on the street, using similar “surprise and surround” tactics. Or, if home is the best option, surveil the home over time to determine the routine and catch a person home alone. Last, rather than barging in, announce that the home is surrounded and demand a person come out and surrender.

We at The News  are watching legislation in the 2022 General Assembly focusing on increasing the power of police officers.

The law allows police to claim “self defense” even in situations in which the danger is one law enforcement have created, such as the situation Brett Hankinson created by shooting into an adjacent apartment. On a spectrum between power and responsibility/accountability, American law enforcement seems to sit further on the power scale rather than the responsibility and accountability scale.

The police do not need more power, period. They need laws to govern how they enforce the laws.