Louisville police make 127 arrests in Breonna Taylor protests

Louisville police made 127 arrests Wednesday night as protests broke out following the decision by a grand jury in the Breonna Taylor case, the Louisville Courier Journal reported early Thursday.

The grand jury did not charge any of the three officers involved in Taylor’s shooting death. One officer, Brett Hankison, is facing three lesser counts of wanton endangerment that are not directly tied to the fatal shooting.

The jury’s decision sparked a new round of protests that have been occurring since Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was killed on March 13. 

The Louisville Metro Police Department has ordered a state of emergency before the jury’s decision was announced Wednesday. Two police officers were shot amid protests Wednesday evening. 

Prosecutors said they did not find sufficient evidence that the shots Hankison fired were the ones that killed Taylor. It did bring charges against the police officer for wanton endangerment because some of the bullets he fired traveled into an adjacent occupied apartment.

Last week, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer (D) announced that the city had reached a $12 million settlement with Taylor’s family. The deal is the largest settlement the city has paid in a police misconduct case, shattering the previous top figure of $8.5 million.