Newly published video in Breonna Taylor case appears to show possible violation of police policy
Newly released video of the immediate aftermath of the police raid that killed Breonna Taylor in Louisville appears to show a possible violation of police policy after the shooting. Other evidence also shows that the one shot fired by Taylor's boyfriend may not have hit an officer, as the Kentucky attorney general claims.
Body camera footage obtained and released by Vice News over the weekend appears to show former detective Brett Hankison, who is facing criminal charges related to the case but not for Taylor's death, walking into the crime scene after the incident. According to Vice, he's seen in the video with a flashlight asking about the shell casings.
"Is that theirs?" an officer is heard asking in the video.
"No, it's ours, looks like," a second officer says.
"But I'd back out until they get PIU [Public Integrity Unity] in here," one of the officers says.
CBS News has not been able to verify the video. If Hankison was at the scene after the shooting, it would be a violation of police policy, which states officers involved in shootings are to be "isolated from all non-essential individuals for the remainder of the initial investigation."
"That's just tremendously shocking," Angelo Pinto, a local activist from the group Until Freedom, which works with Taylor's family, told CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz. "It looks like and I think it's clear in some instances that a lot of departmental policies were being violated."
But, Todd McMurtry, an attorney for the officer who was shot, said the body camera video doesn't "substantively" change anything. He said the officers still acted in legal self-defense.
A portion of the Kentucky State Police ballistics report obtained by CBS News appears to not support state Attorney General Daniel Cameron's assertion that Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, definitively shot sergeant Jonathan Mattingly the night she was killed.
In part it says the bullet that hit Mattingly was "neither identified nor eliminated as having been fired" from Walker's gun.
Walker's attorney Steve Romines said he has seen the full report.
"There's also evidence that Kenny's shot actually hit the carpet in the apartment," Romines said.
Walker was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but the case was dropped without prejudice. Walker's co-counsel Frederick Moore said this means the state could charge him again, if they see fit.
"They can't really prove what Kenny knew when he fired the shot," he said. "Which is the element essentially for attempted murder."
It's not known if the ballistics report or body camera footage were presented to the grand jury, which decided Wednesday to not charge anyone for Taylor's death.
Walker's attorneys have filed a motion to request the state attorney general's officer to release their evidence from the grand jury proceedings. Taylor's family, lawyers and activists also demand the release of the grand jury transcripts, saying key questions remain about what evidence was heard.
When asked about Hankison's purported appearance on the tape and the ballistics report, his attorney said he has never seen a ballistics report. He added, "Unlike a lot of lawyers, I do not try my cases in the press. I try them based on evidence in the courtroom." The Louisville Metro Police Department's internal review is ongoing.
