Civil rights attorney Ben Crump responds to Louisville DOJ report. Here's what he said
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said a federal investigation that uncovered widespread racism within Louisville Metro Police was shocking but necessary to prevent future killings of "innocent, young Black people."
Crump, who represented Breonna Taylor's family in a lawsuit against Louisville, was in town Thursday for a lecture on structural inequality, organized by the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law.
Ahead of his speech, he spoke with media about the recently released U.S. Department of Justice investigation, as well as who he believes should still be held accountable for Taylor's death.
Here's what he had to say.
On the DOJ investigation
Through its investigation, the DOJ found Louisville police conducted searches based on invalid warrants and unlawfully executed search warrants without knocking or announcing themselves.
Crump said those findings spoke directly to Taylor's death. But what shocked him most about the investigation was the "insidious pattern of racism that was uncovered against African Americans in Louisville" by LMPD.
"it was something that was necessary for us to unearth, and hopefully it can make Louisville a better community where we won't ever have another tragedy like the murder of an innocent young Black woman like Breonna Taylor," he said.
On judges who routinely approved search warrants
The DOJ investigation found Louisville police officers cherry-picked judges to sign search warrants, with six local judges approving more than half of warrant applications the DOJ reviewed.
"A cursory search, a cursory review by the judges would have bumped their attention (to notice) it seems we're serving an extraordinary disproportionate number of these no-knock warrants on Black people," Crump said. "That should have told them – is it only Black people committing crimes? That doesn't add up."
"So everybody has to take account of the role they played in the death of an innocent Black princess, Breonna Taylor."
In March, Jefferson Circuit Court judges moved to adopt a practice in which judges will be randomly picked to review warrant requests moving forward.
On fixing the criminal justice system
Crump said the issue at the heart of the criminal justice system is mistrust between communities of color and law enforcement.
"The only way we can bridge that divide of mistrust is to show everybody that the system works equally," he said. "It doesn't matter if people in community do something wrong, we have to hold them accountable. But if law enforcement do something wrong, we have to hold them accountable, too.
"... When we have empirical, objective evidence of police committing a crime and they're not held accountable, it leads us to say there are two justice systems in America: one for white America, and one for Black America.
"When we have ... equal justice for all citizens in the United States of America, that is how we can heal the community."
Reach reporter Bailey Loosemore at bloosemore@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4646 or on Twitter @bloosemore.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Breonna Taylor attorney Ben Crump talks LMPD federal investigation
