No-knock warrants, revisited
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 29 August 2022
⏱️ 24 minutes
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Summary
Today on “Post Reports,” we revisit the use of one of the most intrusive and dangerous tools in policing: no-knock warrants.
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Two years after the death of Breonna Taylor, the Justice Department announced federal charges against four officers involved in her death. At the time, officers had a no-knock warrant for the young Black woman’s apartment.
For Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, the Justice Department investigation represented a step toward justice for her daughter — but it was also a reminder of how much further police accountability has to go.
Since this spring, and the release of the “Broken Doors” podcast, activists, local government leaders and national law enforcement officials have continued to scrutinize the use of no-knock warrants by police. Today on “Post Reports,” investigative reporters and “Broken Doors” hosts Nicole Dungca and Jenn Abelson bring us updates from across the country, revisiting fatal no-knock cases and weighing in on what’s happened in Kentucky since Taylor’s death.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good morning everyone. Earlier today I spoke with the family of Breonna Taylor. This morning |
| 0:10.2 | they were informed that Justice Department has charged four current and former Louisville |
| 0:15.7 | Metro Police Department officers with federal crimes related to Ms. Taylor's death. Those |
| 0:21.7 | alleged crimes include civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of |
| 0:28.1 | force and obstruction offenses. Earlier this month Attorney General |
| 0:33.1 | Marick Garland announced charges against four officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor. |
| 0:38.5 | She was the young black woman killed by police in her home in March of 2020. At the time, |
| 0:43.7 | Louisville police had a no-knock warrant for Taylor's apartment. |
| 0:47.4 | When officers broke down the door to Ms. Taylor's apartment, that person, believing that |
| 0:52.4 | intruders were breaking in, immediately fired one shot, hitting the first officer at the door. |
| 0:59.2 | Two officers immediately fired a total of 22 shots into the apartment. |
| 1:06.8 | Soon after the DOJ announced this, one of the officers charged pleaded guilty. |
| 1:12.0 | And after that news, Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor's mother, felt a huge relief. She spoke with |
| 1:18.2 | investigative reporter Jen Eelson. She felt like a truck had been lifted off her chest and she could |
| 1:23.1 | finally breathe again. That to see someone actually take responsibility for what happened that day |
| 1:28.9 | felt like a real change. At the same time, it doesn't change the circumstances of what happened. |
| 1:34.4 | She felt like it validated though everything that she's pleaded from the beginning, which is that |
| 1:38.8 | police never should have been at Breonna Taylor's apartment. They never should have broken down |
| 1:42.4 | her door and that she should be alive today. Two years after Breonna Taylor's death, |
| 1:50.4 | Jen and our colleague Nicole Dunca have continued reporting on the case and on the dangers of |
| 1:55.9 | no-knock warrants, this aggressive and intrusive law enforcement tool, and police enter a home |
| 2:01.3 | without warning. They started this reporting last year as part of the investigative podcast |
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