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Louisville police declare state of emergency as Breonna Taylor decision looms

22 September 2020
 Dan Ackermann

The Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) declared in a memo obtained by news outlets a "state of emergency" on Monday to prepare for Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's expected announcement on the Breonna Taylor case.

Of note: Louisville has witnessed more than 115 days of protests over the police killing of Taylor, an unarmed Black woman, with calls for all the officers involved to be charged.

Breaking: Louisville police chief declares state of of emergency in anticipation of Breonna Taylor announcement pic.twitter.com/yu38XDNSXH

— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) September 21, 2020

What's happening: Cameron is expected to announce a decision on charges as early as this week.

  • "The public may also see barriers being staged around downtown, which is another part of our preparations," LMPD spokesman Lamont Washington said in a statement to the Courier Journal announcing that department was cancelling all pending vacation request and days off. "It is important to note that the AG has said there is no timetable for the announcement." 
  • Two federal buildings, including the federal courthouse, in downtown Louisville have also been closed and boarded up in preparation of an announcement, local media reported.

Catch up quick: Taylor was shot dead by police on March 13 when LMPD officers conducting a narcotics investigation barged into the 26-year-old's home in plain-clothes to serve a "no-knock" warrant.

  • Police exchanged fire with Taylor's boyfriend, who said he fired believing the home was being broken into.
  • Protests over Taylor's death erupted in Louisville in May following the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.
  • The Louisville Metro Council has since banned no-knock warrants.
  • Last week, Louisville announced a $12 million settlement package with Taylor's family. The settlement also includes a series of police reforms. Taylor's family has continued to call for the officers involved in her death to be charged.

Go deeper:What you need to know about the Breonna Taylor shooting

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.