On March 13, a 26-year-old black woman named Breonna Taylor was fatally shot in her apartment in Louisville, Ky.
Taylor was shot by three Louisville Metro Police Officers: Johnathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove.
According to the Associated Press from the AP Newsroom, “Protesters have been marching in Louisville, Kentucky, and other cities after a grand jury decided to bring no charges against Louisville police for the killing of Breonna Taylor during a drug raid gone wrong.”
The grand jury decision has incited increasing tensions within Louisville and has developed into a well-known case around the country.
“The criminal law provides individuals with the ability to defend themselves against forcible attacks. The Supreme Court ruled that a police officer must be ‘objectively reasonable’ in the use of deadly force and that the facts and circumstances surrounding that use of force must be considered as the officer was experiencing them,” said James McCabe, criminal justice professor at Sacred Heart and retired NYPD officer.
Mattingly, Hankison, and Cosgrove’s actions have led to questioning about the justification of actions and the accountability of police.
“His contention was that it was a warning shot, but under the circumstances, it could have been perceived as the use of deadly force against the officers. Firing a weapon in a confined space in darkened conditions would probably prevent the officers from determining where the shot was aimed, and perhaps even who fired it,” said McCabe.
Sacred Heart students voiced their own opinions about the case and the actions of the officers.
Junior Rebecca Oliveira, Social Justice Chair of Kappa Delta Sorority said, “No, I do not believe Breonna Taylor will reach justice until those officers are fired for what they did. She was an honorable woman that was a victim of police brutality.”
In this continuous case, the reactions and voices of many are being heard throughout various social media platforms and protests.
“I believe that Breonna Taylor will never reach justice because no matter what happens now, we can’t go back in the past and change what happened to her. It should not take a situation like Taylor’s to fight for justice. Therefore, no matter what happens now, the past is in the past. We can try to prevent situations like this in our future, but Taylor will never reach justice,” said senior Danielle Fischbein.
This perspective of what is justice and injustice has rattled the United States of America.
COVID-19 has led to much uncertainty, which causes people to want to take matters into their own hands.
“People are in vulnerable times where they feel like they need to be able to control something during the times of uncertainty with COVID-19,” said Fischbein. “I do believe in standing up for what you believe in, but violence is not going to bring us any closer, and it won’t accomplish anything in the long run.”
These latest demonstrations spewed after the announcement that no police officers were directly charged in the fatal shooting of Taylor.
“These protests will not end until systemic racism is abolished in our country, but it is evident that we are far from that,” said Oliveira.
