Wannabe Murderer Charged With Wanton Endangerment

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, writing for The New York Times:

A grand jury in Kentucky has indicted a former Louisville police detective, Brett Hankison, on three counts of “wanton endangerment in the first degree” for his actions during the raid of Breonna Taylor’s apartment. What does that mean?

Under Kentucky law, a person commits that crime when he or she “wantonly engages in conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person,” and does so “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.” Other states may use terms like “reckless endangerment” for an equivalent offense.

But the charges against Mr. Hankison are not for killing Ms. Taylor. None of the 10 shots he fired are known to have struck her. Instead, the Kentucky attorney general, Daniel Cameron, who is overseeing the prosecution, said the former detective was charged by the grand jury because the shots he fired had passed through Ms. Taylor’s apartment walls into a neighboring apartment […]

Not to sound too crass, but this pussy fired ten shots and still missed; why was he on the police force anyway? I don’t exactly consider myself a marksman, but if given ten shots at a sleeping target, I’m pretty sure I could course correct enough to land at least one of them.

We need to be asking if he was indicted because he maybe could’ve hit people through the wall, or if he was indicted because he failed to shoot Breonna Taylor. Why the hell weren’t the two officers who murdered her charged with anything? This is a disgusting example of systemic racism and police brutality. It should make you uncomfortable. Don’t look away, lean in. This is a conversation we must have.

For anyone trying to visualize privilege as a ladder, make sure you include a rung for “drywall” somewhere above the rung for “black women”.