On Tuesday, eighty-seven people were arrested and charged in Louisville, Kentucky, after a  peaceful protest demanding justice for Breonna Taylor’s murder.

The protest began near Ballard High School and ended on  Kentucky’s Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R)  front lawn on Tuesday evening. The protestors chanted slogans calling for Breonna Taylor’s killers to be arrested but were asked to leave by police. Those who refused were arrested.

The eighty-seven who were arrested now face criminal charges. Each protestor was charged with attempting to influence a participant in the legal process (a felony), disorderly conduct (a misdemeanor), and trespassing (a violation).

“That is an intimidation tactic from the Louisville Metro Police Department to tell us, ‘We’re going to meet you with trumped-up charges, so don’t ever come back here again,’” said Linda Sasour, one of the eighty-seven arrested. She expressed that no violence or threats occurred on Cameron’s property to warrant the charges.

Former federal prosecutor and law professor Mark Osler considered the charges to be strange. He said that felony intimidation charges typically are given in cases where intimidation is used to sway a member of the jury or a witness, not in cases of peacefully gathering on the lawn of a public official. In Osler’s opinion, a trespassing charge would have been more appropriate.

“Justice is not achieved by trespassing on private property, and it’s not achieved through escalation,” Cameron said. “It’s achieved by examining the facts in an impartial and unbiased manner. That is exactly what we are doing and will continue to do in this investigation.”

However, some feared that Cameron was incapable of prioritizing Breonna Taylor’s case and that instead, Cameron’s focus is being President Trump’s puppet.

By flaunting his recent engagement pictures and failing to charge Breonna Taylor’s murderers–Brett Hankison, Jonathan Mattingly, and Myles Cosgrove–Cameron was accused of  making a mockery of Taylor’s legacy. Unable to arrest and charge murderers or listen to the people’s cries for justice, he had the time to arrest and give felonious charges to peaceful individuals.

Only one of the officers involved in the case has faced any type of disciplinary action. Brett Hankinson was terminated from the LMPD, but Cosgrove and Mattingly remain employed.


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