Brett Hankison, one of the three agents implicated in the case which claimed the life of Breonna Taylor, was charged on Wednesday (September 23).
He is being prosecuted for endangering the lives of others, a criminal charge below that of homicide.
He had already been fired from the police in June.
The man was to be taken into custody and his bail was set at $ 15,000.
Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old nurse, was killed in the middle of the night at her home on March 13 when the three police officers showed up with a so-called "no knock" arrest warrant, which allows them to enter. at a suspect without announcing himself.
When they arrived, his companion had opened fire with a legally owned weapon.
The officers retaliated and Breonna Taylor was shot several times.
His companion then explained that he believed in a burglary, the agents not having announced themselves.
They claim to have come before entering, a version corroborated by a witness, according to state prosecutor Daniel Cameron.
>> To read: The Breonna Taylor case, the other case of police violence that shakes the United States
The agent fired ten bullets, several of which ended their course in the apartment next to that of Breonna Taylor, "putting three people (present) in this apartment in serious danger of physical injury or death," said Daniel Cameron.
His two colleagues, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, who had been laid off, were dismissed because they had fired in self-defense.
"NOTHING about what happened" to Breonna Taylor
"Under Kentucky law, the use of force (by officers) Mattingly and Cosgrove was justified to protect themselves. This justification prevents us from prosecuting them for the death of Breonna Taylor," the prosecutor said.
The lawyer for the young woman's family, Ben Crump, denounced on Twitter a "scandalous and insulting" decision.
The ex-policeman "was indicted on three life-threatening charges. These three charges are for bullets that ended up in other apartments but NOTHING for what happened" to Breonna Taylor, said he wrote.
Jefferson County Grand Jury indicts form ofc.
Brett Hankison with 3 counts of Wanton Endangerment in 1st Degree for bullets that went into other apartments but NOTHING for the murder of Breonna Taylor.
This is outrageous and offensive!
pic.twitter.com/EarmBAhhuf
- Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) September 23, 2020
This decision is "a gross denial of justice," commented the Association for the Defense of the Rights of Colored Minorities NAACP.
The powerful civil rights organization ACLU has denounced "a maintenance of order and a criminal justice system rotten to the bone".
The death of Breonna Taylor did not gain much attention at first, but it has come back to the fore as part of the major anti-racist protests that have swept across the United States since the death of George Floyd, a Black forty-something suffocated by a white policeman in Minneapolis in late May.
"A difficult discussion" with the family of Breonna Taylor
Since then, demonstrators in Louisville have regularly denounced police brutality against the black minority.
A major security device was in place Wednesday in the city center for fear of protests that could degenerate.
The municipality, which called on the population to calm, declared a state of emergency and blocked access to the court, which was protected by plywood.
"I know that these charges announced today will not satisfy everyone," admitted prosecutor Cameron, admitting to having had "a difficult discussion" with the family of Breonna Taylor.
He called on those demonstrating in the streets "to remember that peaceful marches" were their "right as an American citizen, to cause violence and destruction" were not.
"Seeking justice through violence is not to deliver justice, it is revenge," he said.
With AFP
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