City of South Fulton bans no knock warrants
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SOUTH FULTON, GA (WGCL ) — The city of South Fulton is taking a stance for 26-year-old Breonna Taylor who was killed by Kentucky Police in March when they executed a “no-knock warrant” and fired multiple rounds into her apartment.
This week South Fulton passed the Breonna Taylor law to ensure a similar incident doesn’t happen in their city.
“It’s just one of those tools in the belts of law-enforcement that hasn’t worked really well, for either law-enforcement or for members of the community,” said South Fulton Councilman Mark Baker.
A “no-knock” warrant allows law enforcement to force their way into a property without any notification, so there is no need to knock on the door or ringing a doorbell. The controversial warrants are usually issued to prevent a suspect from destroying evidence between the time the police announce themselves and the time it takes them to secure the area. But, Councilman Baker who sponsored the resolution, says their have been cases where the “no-knock” warrants are issued for the wrong address or the residents thought their home was being broken into then defend their property.
“We have a 92-year-old woman Kathryn Johnston in 2006, who was murdered at her home while police was serving a botched “no-knock” warrant. Baby Booby, in Habersham county in Georgia. He was nine months old when a flash bang grenade went off in his play pen. The police was serving a “no-knock” warrant,” added Baker.
There is also the case of Jamarion Robinson who was shot more than 75 times during the execution of a “no-knock” warrant. In a previous interview his mother described the graphic details of his case. “After they battled rammed the door in, over 90 rounds were shot at my son, 90 rounds! Then flash bang grenades were thrown at him, landing on him, burning him, after that someone walked up the stairs and stood over him and shot down into his body. Not three times but five times,” said Jamarion’s mother, Monteria Robinson.
Baker says the city’s goal is to avoid similar incidents, adding that more than 60,000 “no-knock” warrants are served across the every year, most of them in African-American communities. And even though South Fulton police has not executed any “no-knock” warrants, he says the council wants to make sure they never do.
“We have to do this because if we don’t do it here, while we are considered by the National League of Cities to be the blackest a city in America, then how can we expect or anticipate it becoming infections across the country,” added Baker
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