Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor's mothers meet to pressurize officials for swifter justice in latter's case
While Ahmaud Arbery's murder case is being solved at lightning speed, the same urgency has not been extended to that of Breonna Taylor's case although both of them were victims of police brutality and racial injustice prevalent in the United States' Black community. As a result, the mothers of both the victims have decided to join forces to make sure that their children's alleged killers be punished.
Lee Merritt, attorney for Ahmaud's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones told TMZ that his client had scheduled a face-to-face meeting with Breonna's mother, Tamika Palmer, in June 25. The meeting, which will be the first time that family members of both the victims will hold an in-person discussion, will be held in Louisville - the place where Taylor was killed. "I know it has to be very uncomfortable to know that your child was taken away and no one went to jail as of yet," Cooper-Jones told 'TMZ Live' that she wanted to say to Taylor's mother.
She further advised Palmer not to give up on seeking justice for her daughter, adding that although there was no video that emerged in Taylor's case there was hope for justice because "we've seen cases take off because of public pressure." She was alluding to the current racially charged environment of the nation, brought on by the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who was allegedly killed by a white Minneapolis officer when he knelt on his neck for nearly eight minutes.
Cooper-Jones flew from Georgia to Kentucky to not only have a sit-down with Palmer, but also to meet with lawmakers and local activists to fight for justice for the latter's daughter. Among the efforts that Cooper Jones wants to be made in Taylor's case is the intervention of federal officials, for which she is willing to lobby. Because the involvement of feds would not only fast track the proceedings of the case but also enable the Louisville police officers involved in Taylor's death to be charged with civil rights violation, something they did in the Rodney King case in order to secure convictions.
While the three individuals allegedly involved in Ahmaud's murder – Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William 'Roddie' Bryan – are each facing one count of malice murder, four counts felony murder, two counts aggravated assault, one count false imprisonment and one count criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment, cops involved in Breonna's death are yet to be arrested. Louisville Metro Police Department, on Tuesday, June 23, announced that it has fired one of the police officers involved in Taylor's death, Brett Hankison, 44.
We have previously reported that one of Palmer's lawyers, Lonita Baker said in the TMZ interview that June 12 was the deadline for handing over Taylor's autopsy along with its communications with the government by the coroner's office and personnel files and sign in and out sheets for the three cops involved in her shooting by the police department. But none of the documents have been received so far by the victim's legal team. One of the reasons behind the deliberate delay in handing over the official records by the authorities could be because the police think they can cover up Taylor's death as none of the plainclothed officers who shot her were wearing any body cameras. However, he said there was reason to believe that the cops had footage of the incident but had not handed it over to the victim's lawyers.