A federal judge on Monday sentenced an ex-Kentucky police officer to nearly three years in prison for using excessive force during the 2020 deadly Breonna Taylor raid, declining a justice department 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.
The US district judge Rebecca Grady Jennings sentenced Hankison at a hearing Monday afternoon. She said that no prison time “is not appropriate” for Hankison and said she was “startled” that there weren’t more people injured in the raid.
