US Department of Justice investigates Louisville police in the death of Breonna Taylor

The Justice Department of USA announced Monday an investigation into possible systematic abuse by police in Louisville, Kentucky, 13 months after officers shot and killed the African American. Breonna Taylor in a raid on your home.

Just days after launching an investigation into the Minneapolis police in the wake of the media killing of George Floyd, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the investigations in Louisville will focus on a pattern of unreasonable use of force, illegal searches and seizures and discrimination against African Americans.

Both investigations could lead the police to be legally bound, through consent decrees, to enact reforms.

After former Republican President Donald Trump, who left office in January, refused to use federal pressure to push through reforms of local police departments, the investigations underscore the determination of the current administration of Democrat Joe Biden to hold the law to account. Police, after a series of shootings and unjustified murders of black citizens.

“All of these steps will be taken with one goal in mind: to ensure that police policies and practices are constitutional and legal,” Garland stressed.

Louisville police came under particular scrutiny in the “Black Lives Matter” movement’s national protests against police abuse last year due to the death of 26-year-old Taylor.

Taylor, who was an emergency room technician, was shot and killed in Louisville on March 13, 2020, after three plainclothes police officers broke into her apartment at night to execute a drug-related search warrant.

Her boyfriend exchanged shots with the officers because he said he thought they were intruders. Police fired more than 30 shots and Taylor received at least five of them. No drugs were found.

The three policemen were later dismissed, but only one of them was arrested and charged with endangering the lives of neighbors.