LOUSIVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Attorneys, civil rights activists and family members of Breonna Taylor gathered Thursday afternoon in Louisville's Jefferson Square to celebrate after four officers involved in the raid that killed Taylor were federally charged in connection to her death.

"Good afternoon," attorney Ben Crump said. "What a great day to arrest the killers of Breonna Taylor."

Crump's statement was greeted by cheers and he went on to call the federal charges a victory for civil rights across the nation.

"This day is about her and her family," he said. "It's about Breonna and all the other Breonnas across America, the Black women who have been denied justice throughout the history of this country when they have been abused, assaulted, murdered, raped and disregarded. Because of Breonna Taylor, we can say this is a day when Black women saw equal justice in the United States of America.

"She's looking down from Heaven today."

Ex-detectives Joshua Jaynes and Brett Hankison and current officers Kyle Meany and Kelly Goodlett face charges that include civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction, Attorney General Merrick Garland said. The action caps a federal investigation that looked at how police obtained the search warrant for Taylor's apartment, something a prior state investigation by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's office did not pursue. 

Crump also used the news conference as an opportunity to criticize Cameron, who prosecuted the case and recommended that only one of the officers be charged.

"The first thing I will say is thank God that Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron did not get the last word in regards to justice for Breonna Taylor," Crump said.

"Amen to that," someone in the crowd shouted. "Amen."

"As Dr. King said, the moral ark of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice," Crump said. "Well today, it bent toward Breonna Taylor."

In a written statement Thursday morning, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer called the charges a "critical step forward in the process toward achieving justice for Breonna Taylor."

Lonita Baker, Crump's co-counsel, echoed Crump's assessment of the importance of the day and targeted her remarks against Cameron and the officers involved in the raid.

"Today, the Department of Justice has shown us what we knew Daniel Cameron lied about in September of 2020," she said. "The Department of Justice has indicted officers for lying to get the search warrant to get to Breonna Taylor's home. They have acknowledged that the police officers had no right to be at Breonna's apartment in the first place. And not only did they cover up the lies that they told to get that search warrant and present to a judge under oath, once they were called on their lies in May, they met to conspire again to cover it up and try to tarnish Breonna Taylor's name."

Baker went on to lob more pointed attacks against Cameron.

"The federal government had the guts to do what Daniel Cameron did not have," she said. "The malfeasance that the Kentucky Attorney General's Office showed in this case shows that his political career needs to end now. He has no right holding any political offices representing the constituents in the state of Kentucky because he has shown that he is not for us. He is about self."

Sadiqa Reynolds, president of the Louisville Urban League, thanked Crump and the attorneys for their involvement in the Taylor case and cited their courage.

"Today, this is vindication," she said. "It is the beginning of a new day, not just in Louisville but in America. This Black woman's life always mattered to her mother. This Black woman's life always mattered to her family. This Black woman's life always mattered to everybody you see here. And that Black woman's life mattered to me and the Louisville Urban League on March 13 when we got the call. And on that day, they didn't even give us her name. They just said she was killed in the crossfire. We know the whole story now."

Tamika Palmer, Taylor's mother, hurled expletives at Cameron.

"You don't deserve to be where you are and you need to go," she said. "And if we don't continue to eat him, one of you all is on the menu next. He was dead wrong. It didn't start with him, but ... he had the right to do the right thing and he chose not to."

She praised her supporters, the attorneys and the people who demonstrated in favor of charging the officers in the Taylor raid, calling them "amazing people."

"You all know who you all were," she said. "You all know what you all did. And I will never forget any of it."

At the same time, she had some pointed words for some in the audience at the news conference.

"Some of you have been out here tearing me down," she said. "Some of you all have harassed me. Some of you all have carried me. But all of that (EXPLETIVE) made me. And I’m OK with that. Breonna Taylor."

In a separate news conference Thursday evening at Jefferson Square Park, the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression were joined by dozens of people who protested after Taylor's death. They called on Cameron to be held accountable.

"I wanna also thank Daniel Cameron for showing us who you are and that you can't be trusted to do your job for the state of Kentucky," said Tyra Thomas Walker with the Kentucky Alliance. "We know who to stand with at the election booths."

The attorneys and activists held the celebration shortly after the U.S. Justice Department announced the charges over the drug raid that led to Taylor's death and contributed to the racial justice protests that rocked the U.S. in the spring and summer of 2020. The charges are another effort to hold law enforcement accountable for for her death after one of the officers was acquitted of state charges earlier this year.

Federal officials "share but cannot fully imagine the grief" felt by Taylor's family, Garland said in announcing the charges.

"Breonna Taylor should be alive today," he said. 

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