Imagine laying in your bed and someone knocks down your door and never acknowledges their presence. Your boyfriend laying next to you fires a shot from his legally owned 9 mm, thinking it is an intruder. And 2 detectives and 1 sergeant, all plain-clothed, serving a falsified, no-knock search warrant nor wearing body-cams, return 32 shots, one of which killed Breonna. And the person they were looking for was not even there. 4 years and 7 months later… the justice system is still a joke.

On Friday, November 2nd, a judge found Brett Hankison guilty of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights. Thinking his fellow detectives were in trouble, he blindly fired 10 shots into the covered, sliding glass door and window of her apartment. After the botched raid, the officers continued to lie stating a battering ram was not used to knock down the door down, that they did announce themselves as well as reporting no injuries were sustained.

It took 3 trials for Brett Hankison to be found guilty, which is not surprising considering America’s lack of regard for black bodies. And he’s been found guilty for using excessive force. If charged on March 15, 2025, he faces up to life in prison. He’ll do 7, 10 at max.

We know this because we’ve seen it play out before. We’re trusting a government that failed, in this case alone, so very many people and families, to have justice and hold court responsibly. In the words of Lion King’s Simba, “I laugh in the face of danger.” Because who has time for wasted tears?

There are so many lessons to be learned here and they never are. The city of Louisville settled with the Taylor family for $12 million dollars while her boyfriend Kenneth Walker settled for $2 million. It’s a wonder how cities claim to be broke when they have money like this sitting around. Especially when the city announced in 2023 a $37 million-dollar infrastructure paving plan. That $14 million could’ve been used for that instead of a band-aid for longstanding injustices and a failure to properly execute official duties.

Just think how better the world would be if officers like this took the same advice the law expects civilians to follow: “think before you act”, “remember, all actions have consequences” or even “one bad decision can change your life.” Breonna Taylor should still be with us. She could be any of us. And because we know this story too well, we know this won’t be the last time excessive force will be used to violate someone’s civil rights.