US Civil Rights Leader Jesse Jackson Urges Louisville Protesters To Refrain From Violence

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2020) Black civil rights leader Jesse Jackson during a press conference called on protesters enraged that no police officers were charged in Breonna Taylor's killing to refrain from violence, adding that it could help President Donald Trump's re-election.

"We must be smart enough not to turn our anguish and anger into self-destruction, and give Trump a commercial," Jackson said on Wednesday.

Trump was asked what his message was to those who feel injustice in Taylor's case and he responded "I don't know enough about it."

Video footage from Louisville following the Breonna Taylor announcement showed police in riot gear clash with protesters. Police officers can be seen or heard firing rubber bullets at protesters while at least ten protesters are arrested. Other video shows militia groups patrolling downtown Louisville.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced that the use of force by two police officers in Taylor's death in March was justified under state law after they were fired upon by Taylor's boyfriend.

Cameron said this justification bars them from pursuing charges in Taylor's death.

Taylor was killed in her Louisville home in March when police officers executed a drug search warrant. Taylor's boyfriend allegedly fired a first shot in self-defense fearing the entrants were burglars, which prompted the four police officers to unleash a hail of bullets on the house, hitting Taylor six times.

However, a grand jury charged one of the police officers involved in the incident, Detective Brett Hankison, with three counts of wanton endangerment in the first-degree after shots he fired during the police raid of Taylor's apartment went into an apartment next door and seriously endangered the three residents inside.