LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A crowd gathered at Jefferson Square Park, in anticipation of the historic Grand Jury announcement. Once the indictment regarding the Breonna Taylor case was handed down, there was grief and outrage. People hugged and cried, shouted, and stomped. Ex-cop Brett Hankison was the only one indicted, on three wanton endangerment charges. The charges are in connection with him firing into Taylor's neighbors' apartment.
There were no charges announced for the other two officers involved in Taylor's death.
"I'm disappointed. I'm not surprised," said State Representative Attica Scott (D- Louisville). "Justice is clearly not served today."
Hankison was booked into the Shelby County Detention Center, and later released; he posted the $15,000 bond.
"He got $15,000 bond? It's ridiculous," said activist Shameka Parrish-Wright. "And so, it's no justice. What I told people is that justice delayed is justice denied and whatever this decision would be, it would be just the start clock of the next level of our protests."
Parrish-Wright works with the KY Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression, and The Bail Project. "It's like spitting in their face," she said of Hankison's wanton endangerment charges. "[Daniel Cameron] just did it in a professional way."
"The mayor needs to fire every one of those officers connected to that murder," she continued. "If they really wanna say they wanna heal, nobody can heal if our abuser is allowed to run free."
Scott is calling on the defunding of police.
"You can't salvage a rotten apple. You have to throw it out. And so that's what we have to do, and I'm very committed as a state representative to passing Breonna's Law for Kentucky," said Scott.
The two agree the fight for justice is far from over. To Breonna Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, Scott says: "We are with you. This is love in community with solidarity, and we are not giving up."