Los Angeles Lakers guard Danny Green indicated that members of the Los Angeles Lakers were disappointed upon hearing of a grand jury’s decision to charge only one of three officers in the March 13 killing of Breonna Taylor.
Danny Green on Breonna Taylor case: “‘Bron texted the group chat that there was about to be an announcement made … nobody was happy about it. It was disappointing in a sense of something was done, but it wasn’t enough. It’s a tough one."
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) September 23, 2020
Taylor was a 26-year-old woman who was shot by members of the Louisville Metro Police Department during a mistaken no-knock raid on her apartment.
The three officers: Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove, were potentially facing murder charges, but only Hankison was charged for any crimes.
One reason for the disappointment on the part of the Lakers was that Hankison was not charged for shooting Taylor. Instead, he was indicted on three counts of first degree wanton endangerment for bullets that went into other apartments.
Taylor’s death preceded the May killing of George Floyd during his arrest by Minneapolis police officers, which sparked nationwide protests and riots.
LeBron James was one of the more vocal NBA players about Floyd’s death and other police conflicts with African-Americans. Prior to the start of the resumed 2019-20 season, there had been some talk of not resuming the season as a protest against the issue.
Last month’s shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wis. also caused an uproar, which included NBA teams refusing to play in protest of the shooting.
Despite the team’s disappointment, it’ll continue to prepare for Thursday night’s Game 4 Western Conference finals matchup against the Denver Nuggets.
