Recently, I posted an undisputable truth to my Facebook page: If her boyfriend hadn't shot at police officers serving a warrant, Breonna Taylor would still be alive today.
This prompted a friend who used to live in Kentucky, but now lives out of state, to note that she'd seen no media coverage of the fact that Kenneth Walker shot first, and Taylor was killed only after the police returned fire. Only after I brought it to her attention did she find out what had actually happened.
The case has drawn national attention from media outlets and celebrity activists. And much like the situation with Kentucky's primary election, the facts of the matter don't match the narrative or the agenda.
With the election, it was suppression of votes, especially those of black voters, because a black man was running for the opportunity to challenge Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell. Similarly, with Taylor's death, she's no longer alive because cops are racist killers.
Some review of the facts of the case are probably in order. The first truth bomb is that Breonna Taylor was not murdered in cold blood by the police. An unfortunate set of circumstances started the process that ultimately led to her death.
What happened was this: Back in March, Louisville police served a warrant on the apartment Taylor and Walker shared. Because the warrant was in connection with a drug investigation, it was what's known as a "no-knock" warrant, meaning the police did not have to announce themselves before entering.
There is some legitimate dispute over whether or not the police went above and beyond what was legally required and actually did announce themselves. Even the New York Times, the "newspaper of record" that's pretty close to being a liberal Bible, reported that the police identified themselves and knocked on the door before forcing it open. The accuracy of that statement will probably go a long way in determining the outcome of the case.
Once police did enter, Walker shot at them, hitting a cop in the leg and causing a wound that required surgery. Police returned fire, as they're trained to do, and their shots killed Taylor.
Walker was originally charged with attempted murder and assault for firing on the police, and was indicted by a grand jury, but those charges were later dropped by Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney Thomas Wine. However, the charges were dropped without prejudice, meaning they can be reinstated once the federal and state investigations into Taylor's death are complete.
The popular phrase used on social media is that Breonna Taylor was murdered. This is a blatant falsehood. The police did not go into the apartment with the intent to take her life. That only happened as a result of her boyfriend shooting first. The view from here is that if charges are filed, reckless homicide and wanton endangerment would be the most appropriate ones.
Lots of facts need to be determined as the investigation proceeds. Did the police announce themselves and knock on the door, or not? Did an officer mislead the judge about the apartment being used as a drug delivery location based on information from a postal inspector? Were they seeking a suspect who was already in custody?
The incident has resulted in more scrutiny on the use of no-knock warrants. The Louisville-Jefferson County metro government has prohibited its officers from seeking them. Kentucky's General Assembly is considering legislation for its upcoming session to ban them statewide.
But absent any false statements police may have made to the judge who issued the warrant, police were serving a legally-valid and properly-issued warrant when they were fired upon.
All of these things need to come out in a thorough, methodical investigation. Both state and federal authorities are looking into the matter. And therein lies another problem. The real goal of many of the protesters and agitators seems not to be justice, but revenge. Justice would demand taking as long as necessary for all the facts to come to the surface, not adhering to some artificial timetable.
Last weekend, the leader of a militant group that calls itself the Not F--king Around Coalition led a demonstration in Louisville, then said if the probe wasn't complete in four weeks, they'd be back to "burn this motherf--ker down." And Gov. Andy Beshear (a white Democrat) got involved in the fray, most likely because he's involved in a legal dispute with Attorney General Daniel Cameron (a black Republican) over the legality of Wuhan Chinese virus restrictions. Beshear went on national television to say the investigation is taking entirely too long.
That doesn't hold water. The state's investigation is being run by the Kentucky State Police. At last check, KSP is a part of the executive branch of state government that ultimately answers to the governor, not the attorney general. The interests of justice require that all facts be presented to the prosecutors who will ultimately bring charges and present a case to a grand jury, no matter how long it takes to uncover those facts.
There's a real demand in certain circles for charges to be filed against the officers involved. There's a very real possibility that the facts of the case won't justify charges, and it's even more likely that if charges are filed, they won't include murder. Louisville has already been on edge for weeks, and the city has been devastated economically by the protests and the damage that's been done by rioters, along with the state-mandated virus-related closures. At least two other lives have been lost as a result of the riots, and dozens of injuries have been reported.
The misrepresentation of the facts by the agenda-driven mainstream press and the social media celebrity activists isn't helpful. Yet you won't see Twitter or Facebook flag the misinformation they spread; choosing instead to call doctors who have treated the virus with hydroxychloroquine liars.
This is another case where discernment is vital. People need to look beyond the agendas, seek out the truth that's not always readily available, and don't jump to the politically-correct popular conclusions that satisfy the intellectually uncurious.
