The former Louisville officer who was fired for his involvement in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor is appealing his termination. According to WLKY, Brett Hankison’s attorney filed an appeal on Wednesday (June 24) requesting a hearing before the Louisville Police Merit Board. In the appeal, lawyer David Leightty accused Mayor Greg Fischer and acting Chief Robert Schroeder of terminating his client before the investigation was complete.
“The Chief, on directive of the Mayor, terminated Brett Hankison before completion of the criminal investigations into the events of March 13, 2020 and before and internal, Professional Standards investigation has been started,” the appeal reads. “A full account of the events at Breonna Taylor’s apartment on that date has not yet been assembled and may not be for some time.”
Leightty also said that pressure from the public caused the Mayor to take action against his client. “Members of the public, angry with our nation’s 400-year history of racial oppression and horrified by the video of George Floyd’s death and other recent events, have pressured the Mayor to take immediate action against the officers who discharged their weapons on March 13,” he wrote.
“Any determination of whether to punish Hankison, and if so what the punishment should be, must rest on facts and evidence, not on assumptions,” he continued. “Brett Hankison’s actions must be judged based on what they really were — and that is not yet fully established.”
The attorney also states that his client did not “blindly” discharge his weapon and acted in quick response to gunfire, which was fired from Taylor’s boyfriend.
Taylor was shot and killed after a group of officers entered her home under a no-knock warrant for a drug raid. He boyfriend thought someone was breaking into the home and fired a warning shot. The officers returned fire and Taylor was hit at least eight times. Her family says that the officers never announced themselves and no drugs were found in the home. So far, Hankison is the only officer who has been fired for the incident. None of the officers have been arrested or charged for the shooting.
Read the full appeal here.