Breonna Taylor was shot and killed in her own home as the result of an unconstitutional no-knock raid. She happened to be next to her boyfriend who allegedly was a drug dealer, but the sentence for being a drug dealer, or dating one, isn't the death penalty.
There is confusion and disagreement over whether or not the authorities had officially announced their presence when they came around after 12 at night. One lawsuit has already been launched on behalf of the family which claims that they failed to announce themselves and had been dressed in plain clothing when they raided the home. A recipe for disaster.
The charges against the boyfriend who seemingly tried to defend his home have also been dropped now.
Doing Approx 20,000 no-knock raids every year
No-knock raids have been responsible for many innocent deaths in the United States and when you hear someone entering your home in the middle of the night you too might jump into action to defend your family.
Now, this case is fueling a call from many, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, for an end to those unconstitutional no-knock raids and it is one move that is long overdue.
People should feel safe in their home and even if there are allegations of drug dealing or growing etc, that victimless crime shouldn't be reason enough to give authorities this broad power to terrorize people unexpectedly in the middle of the night.
These unconstitutional no-knock raids have been botched several times and that has cost innocent people their lives, or quality of life after being harmed, from toddlers to seniors. The threat and risk to the community in endorsing this sort of policing isn't worth it, especially when the war on drugs is arguably a sham endeavor to begin with given its failure rate.