Part II: When innocent people think their home is being robbed during a midnight drug raid

This is Part II of my series titled “We Must Still Fight For Breonna Taylor.” On March 13, 2020, Breonna Taylor was killed by three officers from the Louisville Metro Police Department. The officers were executing a no-knock warrant as part of a drug investigation. This five-part series is intended to shed light on several systemic issues that led to her tragedy. It’s more than just arresting the cops, although this series will also discuss law enforcement accountability. We must still fight for Breonna Taylor, the countless others who came before her and nationwide reform to the systemic issues that fuel these tragedies.

Part I: We must still fight for Breonna Taylor and other Black women

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There are times I put myself in the shoes of Kenneth Walker, and the feeling never sits right.

I’m a Black man. I’m with a Black woman. And I own a lawfully-owned firearm.

It was extremely late at night when I laid in bed and began to wonder: Man. If I heard people outside violently pounding my door right now, what would I do?

Well, the reaction would have come secondary to my instant thought: Who the hell is at my door?

I imagine the noise would sound too erratic for me to think of family or friends. Plus, it’s too late at night to be exchanging pleasantries.

Do the police come to mind? Well, no, why would they? I haven’t done anything wrong; I’m in bed watching “Moesha” on Netflix. Plus, the biggest crime I’ve ever committed was stealing an ink cartridge from Target when I was in college so I could print out my term paper.

That was seven years ago, there’s no way they’re coming for me now.

So, this must be a burglary, a late-night intrusion on my dwelling.

My instant reaction would be a combination of three things (I’m truthfully not sure in which order): Grab my gun. Check my cameras. And make sure my lady felt protected. That was my job in the scene I played out in my head.

The scene always stops there because it’s too devastating to try and imagine anything further. Kenneth Walker didn’t have that luxury. The reality met him at the front door of his apartment.

Walker was falling asleep.

It had gotten late, and he began to doze off as the television blared in the background. Shortly after midnight, Walker would become fully awake, alert and aware that someone was breaking into his home. He just didn’t know who.

Walker didn’t have cameras, so he vehemently yelled from his bed, asking who it was. He heard no response, according to his later statement.

Like myself, Walker hadn’t done anything wrong and had no criminal record. He knew the loud banging was too extreme for it to be his relatives or companions. So as his adrenaline rushed and the reality of his home being invaded became clear, Walker understood it was his lawful right to protect himself, as well as his girlfriend, Breonna Taylor.

It is part of Kentucky’s “castle doctrine” and “stand your ground” law.

Walker retrieved his registered firearm and braced for the intruders. When the door came off its hinges and forcefully opened, Walker fired one shot. Those intruders dressed in plain clothes were three police officers who were actually executing a drug warrant. One of the officers was shot in the leg and wounded by the bullet they say came from Walker’s gun. What happens next is well known. Police responded with a fusillade of bullets, several of which struck and killed Breonna.

No drugs were found in the apartment.

“People have no idea that it’s the police at the door,” said Dr. Peter Kraska, a criminologist at Eastern Kentucky University who studies these raids and spoke with me for this series. “The tactic is so violent, so fast, so intense that nobody can keep their wits about them and almost in every one of these cases, they have no idea they’re shooting at police or pulling a gun on the police.”

There’s bystander video of Walker’s arrest, and warning, it can be traumatizing depending on your sensibilities. (It was for me.) Walker was crying, yet complying as officers screamed at the top of their lungs with guns drawn, prepared to shoot him to pieces if there was one small misstep.

Gut-wrenching.

Walker was charged with attempted murder of a police officer. He was later released, but that came two months later once national attention and public pressure began to arise. His case could be presented again to a grand jury.

When I mentioned a 2001 case similar to Walker’s, the professor Kraska espoused the comparison: “They were setting him up to be the next Cory Maye, weren’t they?”

Cory Maye was falling asleep.

It had gotten late, and he began to doze off as the television blared in the background. Yes, just like Kenneth Walker. On the night of December 26, 2001, Maye woke up and realized that someone was breaking into his duplex apartment.

As a father, Maye immediately ran into his room where his 18-month-old daughter was sleeping. He closed the door behind him and retrieved a pistol that he kept boxed and unclipped. Thinking it was a home robbery, Maye proceeded to load the chamber and take cover with his daughter next to the bed. Shortly after, the discord got louder and Maye could hear the intruders heading towards the bedroom.

The door to the room was kicked open and Maye fired three shots into the darkness, not realizing that he had just opened fire on police executing a drug raid.

One of the officers was killed. Maye was sentenced to death row.

Like Walker, Maye had no prior rap sheet, and police found no evidence of drug dealing. He spent 10 years in prison before he was released, thanks to some great journalism by Radley Balko of The CATO Institute that spotlighted errors in his sentencing. The court changed his charges from murder to manslaughter, so Maye was released on time served.

It’s true there are instances of individuals being found innocent after mistaking a cop for a burglar, and Part III of this series cites the dangerous risk police face when entering other people’s homes.

But civilians are more likely to be killed in raids than officers (like Breonna) or get brought into court for attempted murder (like Walker) or end up with a felony record once released (like Maye).

Not to mention, people sleeping in their beds at night aren’t the ones generating a potential deadly scenario.

“They’re creating the dangerous situation,” Kraska said, referring to the police.

Here’s where the biggest polarity exists.

• Maye claimed self-defense after shooting and killing an officer. Immediate Result: Arrest for murder.
• Walker claimed self-defense after shooting and wounding an officer. Immediate result: Arrest for attempted murder.
• Three officers claimed self-defense after shooting and killing Breonna Taylor. Immediate result: No arrests.
• One of the officers shot wantonly and blindly and “created a substantial danger of death and serious injury to Breonna Taylor and three occupants of the apartment” next door. Immediate result: Fired from the job.

That’s a mind-boggling juxtaposition. An investigation on the night Breonna was killed and Walker was arrested remains underway by the FBI and Kentucky attorney general.

Walker is seeking immunity from future prosecution. Kraska believes he was on pace to get convicted before Breonna Taylor’s name became a rallying cry at national protests. “They were well on their way to prosecuting him, to covering the whole damn thing up,” he said.

That’s plausible, considering the president of the Louisville Metro Police union was infuriated after Walker was released from jail, saying he would endanger the public and calling the judge’s decision to release him a “slap in the face to everyone wearing a badge.”

Meanwhile, the actual killers here haven’t even got a slap on the wrist.
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Part III: How the weakening of the Fourth Amendment has led to tragedies
Part IV: How culture has become a roadblock to reform in drug raids
Part V: How money fuels the type of raids that killed Breonna Taylor