Only One Arrest, No Violence During Downtown LA Breonna Taylor Protests
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – There was some vandalism but no violence after hundreds of people took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles Wednesday night to peacefully protest a Kentucky grand jury's decision not to charge officers directly in the killing of Breonna Taylor.
One male suspect was taken into custody for pointing a laser at an LAPD helicopter, a police spokesperson told CBSLA Thursday morning. There were no other arrests, however.
An estimated 500 people took part in the evening protests, marching around Union Station, City Hall and LAPD headquarters for several hours.
Footage showed some signs were sprayed with graffiti outside LAPD headquarters, but there was no violence and the crowd dispersed peacefully on its own, police said.
The evening protest followed a demonstration Wednesday afternoon immediately after the grand jury's decision came down.
The 26-year-old Taylor, an emergency medical worker, was shot and killed by police who served a no-knock search warrant on her Louisville apartment in the early morning hours of March 13. On Wednesday, a grand jury indicted one of the three officers who opened fire that night, but not in connection to Taylor's killing. Former officer Brett Hankison was indicted on three counts of wanton endangerment for sending gunfire into a neighbor's apartment.
"We (Breonna Taylor) were the same age, we were born a couple months apart, we're a Black couple that lives by ourselves, it could have been us," a female demonstrator told CBSLA Wednesday night.
"It was kind of worse than no charges, but it was surprising that they found a way to be more offensive," another man added.
