Source: Courier Journal / Handout
One of the police officers involved in the raid on Breonna Taylor’s apartment says Taylor’s shooting death was “not a race thing.” Speaking out for the first time, Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly tells ABC News officers identified themselves and knocked on Taylor’s door six times before finally forcing their way inside. “We expected that Breonna was going to be there by herself,” Mattingly says. “That’s why we gave her so much time.” In fact, Mattingly says if he and his fellow cops had forced their way in sooner, her boyfriend wouldn’t have had time to arm himself — and Taylor would still be alive.
Mattingly, who was struck by a bullet upon entering the apartment, immediately retreated and wasn’t present for Taylor’s death, he says. Nevertheless, he says he’s certain the shooting had nothing to do with Taylor’s ethnicity. “It’s not a race thing like people want to try to make it out to be; it’s not,” he says. “This is a point where we were doing our job, we gave too much time when we go in, I get shot, we returned fire. This is not kneeling on a neck. It’s nothing like that.”
Do you believe Mattingly’s account? What should officers have done differently?
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