Breonna Taylor Deserves Justice

26 July 2020

Mr. Daniel Cameron

Office of the Attorney General

700 Capital Avenue, Suite 118

Frankfort, Kentucky 40601-3449

Dear Mr. Cameron,

I am writing to request that you please charge Brett Hankison, Jon Mattingly, and Myles Cosgrove

for the murder of Breonna Taylor on March 13, 2020.

The officers’ version of the events of that night does not add up.  Had the officers knocked and

identified themselves as officers of the law, Mr. Kenneth Walker would not have shot at them

when the officers barged into the apartment.  We all know what happens when you shoot at the

police, and Mr. Walker was not trying to commit suicide by police.  

Secondly, while Mr. Walker did fire at police, Ms. Taylor did not.  The police do not get carte

blanche to fire at any living thing once they are fired on.  Ms. Taylor was murdered in her own

apartment, having violated no laws, by over anxious police officers.  Even if she had tons of

drugs in the apartment, Ms. Taylor did not threaten the lives of the officers at the scene, and

she did not deserve to be shot.  

Finally, I firmly believe that if Ms. Taylor had been a white woman, and the officers were African

American men, that the Louisville DA would have charged them with murder in a heartbeat.  I

have seen this in my own community, when police officer Mohammed Noor was charged and

convicted in the shooting of Justine Ruszczyk, a white woman.  

Let Messrs Hanikson, Mattingly, and Cosgrove have their day in court.  The rules should apply

to all of us equally.  The police don’t get a pass just because they may have “feared for their lives.” 

As white people we no longer get to use that rationale to justify any action against people of color. 

That day is over.  A jury can hear all the facts and make a decision about whether the death of

Ms. Taylor was “justified” (although I can’t for the life of me see how it could be).

We are a country struggling to maintain the ideal that we are governed by the “rule of law”.  

Please help us live up to that ideal by charging the officers in question.

Sincerely,

Byron Rice