A former US police officer has been convicted by a federal jury of using excessive force on Breonna Taylor during a botched drugs raid that left her dead.
Ms Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician (EMT), was asleep with her boyfriend in Louisville, Kentucky, in March 2020 when police carried out a “no-knock” raid and broke down the door to her flat.
Fearing someone was breaking in her boyfriend fired a single shot, wounding one officer.
The officers then returned fire and six shots struck Ms Taylor, killing her.
Police were searching for Ms Taylor’s former partner, who did not live at the address. No drugs were found in the property.
Ms Taylor’s death and the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis later in the year fuelled protests across the US and around the world in the summer of 2020.
On Friday a 12-member jury convicted Brett Hankison of using excessive force on Ms Taylor but cleared him on a charge he used excessive force on her neighbours.
Hankison fired 10 shots into Ms Taylor’s glass door and windows during the raid, but did not hit anyone.
Some shots hit a next-door neighbour’s adjoining apartment.
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Hankison is the first Louisville police officer involved in the deadly raid to be convicted.
The conviction carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The 48-year-old argued he was acting to protect his fellow officers after Ms Taylor’s boyfriend fired on them.
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Of the three officers who fired their weapons during the raid, only Hankison has faced criminal charges.
Kentucky’s attorney general did not recommend charges for them and they were not indicted by the grand jury.
In 2022 a state court acquitted Hankison of putting Ms Taylor’s neighbours in danger by firing his weapon.
