LOUISVILLE, KY - SEPTEMBER 23: In this handout photo provided by the Shelby County Detention Center, former Louisville, Kentucky detective Brett Hankison poses for a mug shot on September 23, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Hankison was charged with th LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A Kentucky jury on Thursday cleared a former police officer of charges that he endangered neighbors when he fired shots into an apartment during the 2020 drug raid that ended with Breonna Taylor’s death.The panel of eight men and four women delivered its verdict about three hours after it took the case following closing arguments from prosecution and defense attorneys.Hankison had been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing through sliding-glass side doors and a window of Taylor’s apartment during the raid that left the 26-year-old Black woman dead.
Hankison’s attorneys never contested the ballistics evidence, but said he fired 10 bullets because he thought his fellow officers were "being executed."NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 13: People march on the West Side Highway in a protest to mark the one year anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death on March 13, 2021 in New York City.
Breonna Taylor was a Black medical worker who was shot and killed by Louisville Hankison did not appear outside the courtroom after the verdict was read.