Former Officer Charged in Breonna Taylor Shooting Is Being Sued Over Alleged Sexual Assault

The only person facing charges in the Breonna Taylor police killing is embroiled in another scandal in Kentucky. The former Kentucky police officer, who is facing criminal charges in the Taylor shooting, is now being sued by a young lady who alleges that he sexually assaulted her back in 2018, according to ABC News.

Former Louisville Metro Police Detective Brett Hankison, who was fired for his role in Taylor’s death, was hit with a lawsuit earlier this week by law student Margo Borders. In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, Borders accuses Hankison of assaulting her after seeing her at the Tin Roof bar back in April 2018. The two had known each other since 2017 when she was 22 and they shared a mutual friend.

“Brett Hankison is a 44-year-old sexual predator. For years, he has used his police uniform and secondary nightclub employment as mechanisms to prey on innocent women who are two decades younger than him,” according to the lawsuit.

“Our client, Margo, felt that it was necessary to come forward and pursue justice, and hold Brett accountable,” Lonita Baker, one of the lawyers representing Borders, told ABC News on Wednesday. “He used his uniform and badge to target unsuspecting women whom he knew were in a possible state where they could not consent and took advantage of them. It’s disgusting.”

According to The Louisville Courier-Journal, the Louisville Metro Police Department’s Public Integrity Unit had previously cleared Hankison of two other unrelated sexual misconduct accusations. In a June 4 Facebook post, Borders wrote, “He drove me home in uniform, in his marked car, invited himself into my apartment and sexually assaulted me while I was unconscious.”

“I never reported him out of fear of retaliation,” she wrote. “I had no proof of what happened, and he had the upper hand because he was a police officer. Who do you call when the person who assaulted you is a police officer? Who were they going to believe? I knew it wouldn’t be me.”

Last month, a Kentucky grand jury decided to charge Hankison with three counts of wanton endangerment for shooting into the apartments of Taylor’s neighbors on the night of March 13.