Source: Bloomberg / Getty
Attorney General Merrick Garland will announce a Justice Department investigation into the practices of the Louisville Police Department, according to multiple reports on Monday. CNN was the first outlet to report the news.
The probe will focus on a botched raid which left 26-year-old Breonna Taylor shot and killed by police in her own home a year ago. DOJ officials have faced scrutiny for a lack of oversight involving several incidents of police brutality over the past year. A majority of those against Black Americans, which have led to widespread protests in the US.
The sweeping federal investigation would be the second such probe the Justice Department has launched in a week. Garland announced a similar measure into the Minneapolis Police Department following the murder of George Floyd last year. The decision by the DOJ came one day after ex-cop Derek Chauvin was convicted of Floyd’s death.
Taylor, an EMT and aspiring nurse, was asleep with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, when police raided her house last March. Louisville Police had secured a no-knock warrant to search her home in connection with a drug case. Walker had believed there was a robbery in-progress and fired on three officers who returned fire, striking Taylor six times, officials have said.
