Blowin’ in the wind? Maybe not yet

What does this folk song title mean? Perhaps the answer is in the Brett Hankison story.

Some who read Fastzone on Substack will recall the Bob Dylan song made more popular by Peter, Paul and Mary, Blowin’ in the Wind. The lyrics began:

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?

In the context of the Breonna Taylor raid on March 13, 2020, and the subsequent developments, would you assume this query best fits:

• Kenneth Walker, Breonna’s boyfriend who shot Sgt. John Mattingly, or

• Detective Brett Hankison, the fired K9 police officer who was asked to accompany the unit on the raid to search for drugs?

Since Kenneth is a black American “with no criminal history and no illegal drugs were found in that home” you probably think the song best describes him.

After all, Breonna was his best friend and girlfriend, too, “and they took her” and he had no idea who was at the door that night. A victim, he was “deathly afraid” so he grabbed his gun, and “only shot it once” though the police shot over 30 rounds. After shooting Sgt. Mattingly, he was forced to walk barefoot on gravel and rocks to the police car and had scabs on his feet because of that mistreatment. (Is all of his account true?)

Now let’s look at how many roads Brett Hankison has walked down.

1. Worked for the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) 17 years before the fateful raid on March 13, 2020. To introduce Officer Hankison to the jury, his attorney Stewart Mathews asked him questions about his background and experience:

   1. Hankison holds a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Cincinnati University.

   2. He was one of the first graduates from the Metro Louisville Police Academy and was assigned to Charlie District Patrol Division where he answered 911 calls.

   3. When Metro merged the city and county divisions he moved from Charlie to Newburg/Norfolk Flex Platoon where officers had unmarked cars and no regular police uniforms, and did any work the chief assigned such as car break-ins, thefts, and so on.

   4. When the Flex Units were dissolved by the administration, he was promoted to the Metro Major Case Unit where he was assigned to mid-level and high-level drug dealing like fentanyl or heroin brought into the country. He was in this Unit for about four years.

   5. He became a K9 handler for narcotics; wrote search warrants and searched anywhere a request was made. He has served from 800-1000 warrants across the Metro area.

   6. For the Breonna Taylor raid he was invited to be part of the search with his dog Franklin whom he trained for four hours each Wednesday to identify narcotics. Franklin always received a passing grade when he was tested each week. He was not brought into Breonna’s apartment on March 13 but stayed in the police sedan.

   7. Hankison also served for about six years as a member of the Metro Police Merit Board. When officers feel they have been disciplined unfairly, they can go before this board which is comprised of five civilians and two sworn LMPD officers.

   8. The early morning raid took place on his day off, and on the previous day, also normally his day off, he had served on a U.S. Marshall task force and done other work.

   9. More about his work can be learned in this YouTube video.

2. Risked his life to protect Sgt. Mattingly from an active threat. Please see his testimony in the trial video on YouTube.

3. Fired from the LMPD on June 23, 2020, “for his role in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor”; appealed to get his job back; appeal is pending the resolution of any criminal proceedings………

4. Exonerated by a Ky state grand jury following a state investigation of whether the officers who executed the search warrant were criminally responsible for Ms. Taylor’s death under state law, but three jurors were lassoed by an attorney so that he was charged with wanton endangerment on September 23, 2020 relating to bullets that pierced the adjacent wall of her neighbors.

5. The criminal trial for Hankison was held in Jefferson Co. Circuit Court with Judge Ann Bailey Smith presiding in February 2022; a jury found Detective Hankison not guilty but he was not returned to the LMPD force.

6. On August 4, 2022, Hankison was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for using “unconstitutionally excessive force, while acting in his official capacity as an officer” on two counts:

   1. “depriving Taylor and a person staying with Taylor in her apartment of their constitutional rights by firing shots through a bedroom window that was covered with blinds and a blackout curtain”; and

   2. “depriving three of Taylor’s neighbors of their constitutional rights by firing shots through a sliding glass door that was covered with blinds and a curtain.”

So, after being free for about five months, Detective Hankison is under a $50K bond for civil rights violations that were those addressed in a criminal trial where he was found innocent.

How many roads must a man walk down?

The federal trial will not be held until August of 2023. All of the civil rights violations that Jaynes, Meany (the other officers under federal indictment) and Hankison face are related to the federal statute on ‘deprivation of rights under color of law’ and carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment ‘where the violation results in death or involves an attempt to kill,’ with no parole in the federal system, according to the DOJ. (ref)

Songwriter Bob Dylan explained the phrase Blowin’ in the wind in this way:

…no one picks up the answer when it comes down so not too many people get to see and know …and then it flies away. I still say that some of the biggest criminals are those that turn their heads away when they see wrong and know it’s wrong. I’m only 21 years old and I know that there’s been too many…

We hope to look at other aspects of Detective Hankison’s journey in future posts.