WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice has announced an investigation into the Louisville Metro Police Department.
The probe stems from the death of Breonna Taylor when police raided her home, shooting and killing her, The Associated Press reported.
Officers from the Louisville Metro Police Department awakened Taylor when they entered the home using a battering ram. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired on them once.
Police were at Taylor’s home on a no-knock warrant as part of a drug investigation but found no drugs.
The DOJ investigation is being called a “pattern or practice” case and will take a look at whether the police department has a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing.
Attorney General Merrick Garland made the announcement. He said not only will the DOJ look at the department’s practices but also its training, CNN reported.
“[The department] will issue a public report of our conclusions,” Garland said during his announcement Monday. He added his agency will “aim to work with the city and police department to arrive at a set of mutually agreeable steps that they can take to correct and prevent unlawful patterns and practices,” CNN reported.
It is the second such investigation into a police department’s practices in the U.S.
Garland announced last week that the DOJ will also investigate the Minneapolis police after the death of George Floyd, the AP reported.