Troy Williams: Breonna Taylor case exposes problems with no-knock police raids

Breonna Taylor’s death is part of a continuing saga of police no-knock and late-night raids when civilians wind up paying the price for police mistakes. Taylor, a 26-year old emergency room technician, was fatally shot six times by Louisville plain clothes police officers attempting to serve a no-knock warrant at 12:40 a.m. on March 13 as part of a drug raid.

Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were not the intended targets and hadn’t committed any crimes, and a subsequent search of Taylor’s apartment found no drugs. Walker mistakenly thought the cops were illegal intruders, and he fired a weapon, injuring two of the officers. Initially, he was arrested, but the charges were later dropped.

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What went wrong? Acceptable answers aren’t readily available. A four-month investigation concluded this week with a Kentucky grand jury ruling that was shocking, very disturbing, and all too common for civilians on the bad end of police shootings. The grand jury returned a minor felony charge against one of three officers, for shots that hit a neighboring apartment.

Attorney Ben Crump, Taylor’s family lawyer, said in a tweet that the indictment was “insulting & offensive to Brionna Taylor’s life, legacy, & family.” Not surprisingly, the grand jury’s ruling has resulted in a new wave of national protests for justice and racial equality.

Critics argue that no-knock raids are prone to cause unnecessary confusion and endanger the lives of innocent citizens. No-knocks became a common tactic when illicit drugs began besieging urban communities in the 1970s and 1980s. Police think they are necessary, especially when the suspect is very dangerous and also when there is a belief that a suspect will have an opportunity to destroy evidence.

Regrettably, research supports that no-knocks are also widely abused. Some research estimates about 20,000 such raids are conducted across America each year. Another significant indicator is the police use of SWAT teams to execute search warrants. These days a lot of police SWAT teams spend their time carrying out house raids rather than being used exclusively for handling hostage and active-shooter situations.

Sometimes things go wrong

My 1980s law enforcement experience with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office included six and a half years as a drug agent and another twelve months on the SWAT team. During my tenure with these units, we executed a lot of search warrants. Admittedly, we hit the wrong residence on occasion, and there were several times when gunfire was exchanged.

Things were done “by the book.” We had mandatory pre-raid briefings, and all the officers executing the warrant had police raid jackets and were given specific assignments. But even with the best planning, something can go wrong. One memorable search warrant was executed on a house of a drug dealer who lived with his wife and two sons. His arrest record was extensive, and the decision was made to involve the SWAT team.

After dark we approached the house. He had to cross a chain-link fence that surrounded the house. What we did not know was that there was an electric fence about a foot further inside. One of the officers had his finger on the trigger of his weapon, and when he touched the electric fence, he accidentally discharged his gun.

The rest of the team initially thought the gunfire came from inside the house and came close to returning fire at two shadows at a rear window. The shadows turned out to be two scared unarmed boys trying to figure out what was going on. Fortunately, no one aimed at the two youngsters, and we eventually gained safe entry into the house. The two adults were not home.

The point is, even with the best training and planning, things can go wrong, and someone can get hurt or killed. We found the drugs, and I will be forever thankful those two youngsters did not get injured or killed.

Last month, a disabled army veteran’s wife went to a magistrate and got an involuntary commitment for her husband, who suffered from PTSD and schizophrenia. She was concerned and wanted to get her husband some help.

She didn’t expect several Cumberland County sheriff deputies attempting to execute the order to kick in the door of his residence after dark and shoot him dead. They say he came after them with a large knife. She believes he thought they were intruders, especially, in his mental state.

The deputies were not wearing body cameras, so we only get to hear one side of the story, but it’s going to be hard to explain why they kicked in the front door. The incident is under investigation.

Police have a lot of legal latitudes to shoot people. However, police mistakes should never lead to police cover-ups. If you screw up, own up to it, pure and simple. No one is right all the time, not even the police.

Troy Williams is member of The Fayetteville Observer Community Advisory Board. He is a legal analyst and criminal defense investigator. He can be reached at talk2troywilliams@yahoo.com.