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A28 u.s. news
Diabierna 4 Maart 2022

Ex-officer cleared in shooting during Breonna Taylor raid

Hankison, 45, testified dur- during the raid. the police decisions that led
ing the trial that he saw a to the March 13, 2020, raid.
muzzle flash from Taylor’s Mathews told the jury in his Jurors were shown a single
darkened hallway after police closing argument Thursday image of her body, barely
burst through the door and that Hankison thought he discernible at the end of the
thought officers were un- was doing the right thing and hallway.
der heavy fire, so he quickly is not a criminal who belongs
wheeled around a corner and in prison. Taylor, a 26-year-old emer-
sprayed 10 bullets, hoping to gency medical technician
end the threat. A 20-year veteran K-9 officer who had been settling down
assigned to handle a drug- for bed when officers broke
But in closing arguments sniffing dog during the raid, through her door, was shot
Thursday, prosecutors cast Hankison said he was posi- multiple times and died at
doubt on what Hankison said tioned behind an officer with the scene.
he saw, challenging whether a battering ram, and could see
he could have looked through the shadowy silhouette of a Kentucky Attorney General
Taylor’s front door when po- person “in a shooting stance” David Cameron ’s prosecu-
(AP) — A Kentucky jury ecuted.” lice broke it open with a bat- with what looked like an tors asked a grand jury to in-
on Thursday cleared a tering ram. AR-15 rifle as Taylor’s door dict Hankison on charges of
former police officer of Hankison did not appear swung open. endangering Taylor’s neigh-
charges that he endan- outside the courtroom after Whaley also reminded the bors, but declined to seek
gered neighbors when he the verdict was read. But his jury that none of the other No long gun was found — charges against any officers
fired shots into an apart- attorney Stewart Mathews officers who testified recalled only the handgun of Taylor’s involved in Taylor’s death.
ment during the 2020 drug said he and his client were Hankison being in the door- boyfriend Kenneth Walker, Protesters who had walked
raid that ended with Bre- “thrilled.” way before the gunfire began. who told Louisville Police the streets for months were
onna Taylor’s death. All the shells from his weap- investigators he thought in- outraged.
Asked what might have on were found in the parking truders were breaking in.
The panel of eight men and swayed the jury, Mathews lot, among a row of cars. Investigators determined Taylor’s name, along with
four women delivered its replied, “I think it was ab- Walker fired the shot that George Floyd and Ahmaud
verdict about three hours solutely the fact that he was She said while other officers passed through the leg of Sgt. Arbery — Black men who
after it took the case follow- doing his job as a police of- were in the line of fire of a John Mattingly, who along died in encounters with po-
ing closing arguments from ficer. ... The jury felt like you single shot fired by Taylor’s with officer Myles Cosgrove, lice and white pursuers —
prosecution and defense at- go out and peform your duty boyfriend, Hankison was returned fire. A total of 32 became rallying cries during
torneys. and your brother officer gets “over here, shooting wildly rounds were fired by police. racial justice protests seen
shot, you got a right to defend through sliding-glass doors Walker wasn’t hit. around the world in 2020.
Hankison had been charged yourself. Simple as that. ” covered with vertical blinds
with three counts of wan- and drapes.” Whaley said other officers The jury of 10 men and five
ton endangerment for firing Assistant Kentucky Attor- next to Cosgrove and Mat- women was selected after
through sliding-glass side ney General Barbara Maines The former narcotics de- tingly chose not to fire, and several days of question-
doors and a window of Tay- Whaley said she respected the tective admitted to firing there was no evidence of any ing from a pool expanded to
lor’s apartment during the jury’s verdict but had no fur- through Taylor’s patio doors shots from a long rifle at the about 250 people. Before de-
raid that left the 26-year-old ther comment. and bedroom window, but scene. liberations, the jury was re-
Black woman dead. Hanki- said he did so to save his fel- duced to eight men and four
son’s attorneys never con- Taylor’s mother, Tamika low officers. Asked if he did The killing of Taylor loomed women after three alternates
tested the ballistics evidence, Palmer, and a group of friends anything wrong that night, he over the trial, though pros- were dismissed. The judge
but said he fired 10 bullets and family left without com- said “absolutely not.” Hanki- ecutors insisted in open- declined to release details
because he thought his fel- menting after the verdict. son was fired by Louisville ing statements that the case about their race or ethnicity.
low officers were “being ex- Police for shooting blindly wasn’t about her death or

As vaccine demand falls, states are left with huge stockpile

(AP) - As demand for CO- or had to be tossed for some doses of the Russian Sputnik jump in line to get ahead of still have low vaccine rates,
VID-19 vaccines collapses other reason like temperature vaccine expired this week in those deemed higher prior- including 13 countries in Af-
in many areas of the U.S., issues or broken vials. Guatemala, because nobody ity. Hospital board members, rica with less than 5% of their
states are scrambling to wanted to take the shot. their trustees and donors population fully vaccinated.
use stockpiles of doses be- Nearly 1.5 million doses in around the U.S. got early T hey are plagued by un-
fore they expire and have Michigan, 1.45 million in Vaccination program manag- access or offers for vacci- predictable deliveries, weak
to be added to the millions North Carolina, 1 million in ers say that tossing out doses nations, raising complaints health care systems, vaccine
that have already gone to Illinois and almost 725,000 is inevitable in any inocula- about favoritism and inequity hesitancy and some supply
waste. doses in Washington couldn’t tion campaign because of the at a time when the develop- issues, although health offi-
be used. difficulty in aligning supply ing world had virtually no cials say inventory is mark-
From some of the least vacci- and demand for a product doses. edly stronger than earlier in
nated states, like Indiana and The percentage of wasted with a limited shelf life. the pandemic.
North Dakota, to some of the doses in California is only And many poorer nations
most vaccinated states, like about 1.8%, but in a state But the coronavirus pan-
New Jersey and Vermont, that has received 84 million demic has killed nearly 6
public health departments doses and administered more million people and shattered
are shuffling doses around in than 71 million of them, that economies across the globe,
the hopes of finding provid- equates to roughly 1.4 mil- and every dose that goes to
ers that can use them. lion doses. Providers there waste feels like a missed op-
are asked to keep doses un- portunity considering how
State health departments til they expire, then properly successful the vaccines are in
told The Associated Press dispose of them, the Cali- preventing death and serious
they have tracked millions fornia Department of Public disease.
of doses that went to waste, Health said.
including ones that expired, It also comes only about a
were in a multi-dose vial that The problem is not unique to year after people desperate to
couldn’t be used completely the U.S. More than a million get the vaccine attempted to