Officers could use less than lethal force like tasers and beanbags to protect themselves in these situations, but they could not fire lethal bullets into an apartment after they break in. This rule would have taken the self-defense argument away from the officers who killed Breonna Taylor, because they smashed through her door and created the dangerous situation in the first place.

The proposed addendum is as follows: вЂњ law enforcement officers may not use deadly force in self-defense if their actions created the situation where the need for self-defense became necessary.вЂќ Thus, in practice, law enforcement officers would have to use some force less than lethal if they affirmatively created the dangerous situation. One way to prevent this type of violence in the future would be to modify the self-defense law. So what can we do in a situation where it feels like Black lives are being mistreated and discarded without consequence due to the functioning of the self-defense law? It feels unfair that police officers can create a dangerous situation, and then use that danger as cover for their violence. Someone was shooting at them вЂ“ that is the prototypical situation where self-defense is warranted. Thus, it makes sense how a grand jury, faithfully applying this statute, could decide that the officers believed that they were at risk of death or serious physical injury. The Kentucky self-defense statute says that the use of deadly force is justifiable вЂњ only when the defendant believes that such force is necessary to protect himself against death, serious physical injuryвЂќ or other serious harms. However, according to the self-defense laws, the failure to indict may have been the correct legal decision. There is a feeling that there should be some consequences for killing her, and her life cannot be discarded so casually. Protests exploded across the country following this announcement, largely due to the feeling of fundamental unfairness that surrounds this situation.ДЇrom the protestersвЂ™ point of view, it cannot be fair that a woman can be asleep in her apartment, wake up to banging on her door in the middle of the night, and have the officers kill her when her boyfriend tries to protect them. The officers claimed that they identified themselves as police officers and only fired at Ms. On September 23rd, 2020, a Louisville Grand Jury declined to indict the two officers who shot Ms. When the police broke down the door, Walker fired one shot at the officers, who responded by firing 32 shots into the apartment, including those that killed Ms. If the officers identified themselves, Walker did not hear them do so. Taylor was in her apartment with her current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, when they heard the banging at the door вЂ“ they feared that the dangerous ex-boyfriend was breaking in. Their purpose was to execute a search warrant related to TaylorвЂ™s potentially dangerous ex-boyfriend. On March 13th, 2020, Louisville police officers used a battering ram to smash down the door to Breonna TaylorвЂ™s apartment.

Ellison Berryhill, an Assistant Public Defender practicing in Tennessee, discusses the pros and cons of modifying the law of self-defense as used by the police against the background of Breonna Taylor's death.

Defending against knockknock