LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge on Monday sentenced a former Kentucky police officer to nearly three years in prison for using excessive force during the 2020 deadly Breonna Taylor raid, declining a U.S. Department of Justice recommendation that he be given no prison time.
Brett Hankison, who fired 10 shots during the raid but didn’t hit anyone, was the only officer on the scene charged in the Black woman’s death. He is the first person sentenced to prison in the case that rocked the city of Louisville and spawned weeks of street protests over police brutality five years ago.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings sentenced Hankison at a hearing Monday afternoon in which she said no prison time “is not appropriate” for Hankison. She also said she was “startled” that there weren’t more people injured in the raid.
She sentenced him to 33 months in prison as well