Gov. Andy Beshear signs new bill on Police Raid after Black Woman’s death

Kentucky’s Gov. Andy Beshear signs new bill on Police raid into state law on Friday that restricts the use of “no-knock” police raids to incidents involving serious crime. The new legislation was enacted in response to the murder of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who was shot and killed by police.

The proposed legislation comes in response to the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who was shot and killed by police during a botched drug search in March 2020. Taylor’s death sparked national protests.

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“This is a significant improvement. It will save lives and drive us forward,” Beshear, a Democrat, said at the bill signing, which was attended by Taylor’s mother, a tearful Tamika Palmer, at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage in Louisville.

Beshear said that he was signing the bill “to ensure that no other mother goes through the agony Tamika Palmer has gone through.”

The current legislation prohibits unannounced, late-night drug searches such as the one that killed Taylor while she slept. There were no drugs found, and it was later determined that the police searched the wrong spot.

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The measure, which Beshear signed into law, restricts no-knock searches by officers to incidents including violent offences such as robbery, robbery, or assault, and prohibits arrests between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. It is not a complete ban on the police tactic that Taylor’s family had hoped for.

“While it is not the complete legislation that they desired in terms of a complete moratorium on no-knock warrants, they are pleased that this is a start and a victory in a highly split General Assembly,” the family’s counsel, Lonita Baker, told The Associated Press.

While no charges were brought against the officers who shot into Taylor’s apartment, the Louisville police department dismissed two officers participating in the raid.

The Louisville chief of police announced his resignation amid public outrage, and the city of Louisville suspended the use of no-knock warrants indefinitely.
In other news, the state of Virginia banned all no-knock warrants last year. In Florida and Oregon, no-knock warrants are not permitted.

The city of Louisville decided to settle a wrongful death case in September by paying Taylor’s relatives $12 million and all via a report on Aljazeera at the time.