Breonna Taylor Act to be reintroduced by Rand Paul, Morgan McGarvey – WLKY Louisville

Breonna Taylor's mother joined Republican Sen. Rand Paul and Democratic Rep. Morgan McGarvey on Monday to announce the filing of legislation to ban no-knock search warrants in the U.S.You can watch the entire press conference in the player below.The bill is named the "Justice for Breonna Taylor Act.""It's been four years," said Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, during a press conference in Louisville. "It's been hard. It continues to be hard. But I still fight, and I still make sure that what happened to Breonna doesn't happen again. And that's really what's important here."The bill would apply to federal law enforcement, as well as any state and local agencies that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Justice which the sponsors said includes most police departments in the country.Taylor was killed on March 13, 2020, while police were serving a no-knock search warrant on her Louisville apartment in connection with an ex-boyfriend who was being investigated for drug dealing.LMPD officers entered her apartment late at night and Taylor's then-current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he fired one shot at them because he believed they were burglars and said they had not knocked or announced they were police officers. One LMPD officer, Jonathan Mattingly, was shot in the leg.The officers returned fire, killing Taylor."There's a better way of doing things," Paul said during the press conference. "I do this not only because I care about the people behind the door. I also care about the police. I think it's a very dangerous risk for police to take. And, you know, there's a lot of better ways to arrest people that don't involve going in in the middle of the night."Paul introduced the bill in June 2020, but it failed to get any traction. He said he hopes partnering with McGarvey and another Democrat, Sen. Corey Booker of New Jersey, will increase the bill's chances for success. "I think all of our community is trying still to heal from this," McGarvey said. "It's hard for me right now standing here with Tamika Palmer, with Breonna Taylor's mom, who endured a pain that, while many of us share, cannot fathom."Similar legislation has been passed by the Louisville Metro Council and Kentucky state legislature.Rep. Keturah Herron, D-Louisville, and Amber Duke, executive director of the ALCU-KY, also appeared at the press conference. No-knock warrants have been banned in Louisville and Lexington and severely restricted in the Commonwealth of Kentucky following Breonna Taylors death, Duke said in a statement. After working on this issue locally and statewide, the ACLU of Kentucky proudly supports this federal effort to limit these legalized home invasions that put lives at risk on either side of a door. We know it was Breonna Taylors dream to save lives, and this proposed legislation would do just that. We applaud Congressman McGarvey and the bills co-sponsors for taking this bold step toward healing and justice. The full bill text of the "Justice for Breonna Taylor Act" can be found here.

Breonna Taylor's mother joined Republican Sen. Rand Paul and Democratic Rep. Morgan McGarvey on Monday to announce the filing of legislation to ban no-knock search warrants in the U.S.

You can watch the entire press conference in the player below.

The bill is named the "Justice for Breonna Taylor Act."

"It's been four years," said Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, during a press conference in Louisville. "It's been hard. It continues to be hard. But I still fight, and I still make sure that what happened to Breonna doesn't happen again. And that's really what's important here."

The bill would apply to federal law enforcement, as well as any state and local agencies that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Justice which the sponsors said includes most police departments in the country.

Taylor was killed on March 13, 2020, while police were serving a no-knock search warrant on her Louisville apartment in connection with an ex-boyfriend who was being investigated for drug dealing.

LMPD officers entered her apartment late at night and Taylor's then-current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he fired one shot at them because he believed they were burglars and said they had not knocked or announced they were police officers.

One LMPD officer, Jonathan Mattingly, was shot in the leg.

The officers returned fire, killing Taylor.

"There's a better way of doing things," Paul said during the press conference. "I do this not only because I care about the people behind the door. I also care about the police. I think it's a very dangerous risk for police to take. And, you know, there's a lot of better ways to arrest people that don't involve going in in the middle of the night."

Paul introduced the bill in June 2020, but it failed to get any traction. He said he hopes partnering with McGarvey and another Democrat, Sen. Corey Booker of New Jersey, will increase the bill's chances for success.

"I think all of our community is trying still to heal from this," McGarvey said. "It's hard for me right now standing here with Tamika Palmer, with Breonna Taylor's mom, who endured a pain that, while many of us share, cannot fathom."

Similar legislation has been passed by the Louisville Metro Council and Kentucky state legislature.

Rep. Keturah Herron, D-Louisville, and Amber Duke, executive director of the ALCU-KY, also appeared at the press conference.

No-knock warrants have been banned in Louisville and Lexington and severely restricted in the Commonwealth of Kentucky following Breonna Taylors death, Duke said in a statement. After working on this issue locally and statewide, the ACLU of Kentucky proudly supports this federal effort to limit these legalized home invasions that put lives at risk on either side of a door. We know it was Breonna Taylors dream to save lives, and this proposed legislation would do just that. We applaud Congressman McGarvey and the bills co-sponsors for taking this bold step toward healing and justice.

The full bill text of the "Justice for Breonna Taylor Act" can be found here.

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Breonna Taylor Act to be reintroduced by Rand Paul, Morgan McGarvey - WLKY Louisville

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