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Former NBA basketball player Charles Barkley.
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In the days after it was announced that no officers would be indicted for Breonna Taylor’s death, several high-profile athletes, including LeBron James, Donovan Mitchell and Megan Rapinoe, have voiced their criticisms of the Kentucky grand jury ruling.
Prior to Thursday’s matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets, NBA hall of famer Charles Barkley reacted to the Breonna Taylor news on TNT’s show “Inside the NBA.”
“And I just feel bad that the young lady lost her life. But we do have to take into account that her boyfriend shot at the cops and shot a cop,” Barkley said. “So like I say, even though I am really sorry she lost her life, I just don’t think we can put this in the same situation as George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery.”
George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery were two Black men who lost their lives at the hands of police officers in 2020.
Barkley, speaking with host Ernie Johnson and fellow analysts Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal, also expanded on why he is not a fan of the “Defund the Police” movement.
“I hear fools on TV talking about ‘Defund the Police’ and things like that, we need police reform and prison reform and things like that. Because you know who ain’t gonna defund the cops? White neighborhoods and rich neighborhoods,” Barkley claimed. “Who are black people supposed to call, Ghostbusters?”
Regarding “Defund the Police,” the president of the Center for Urban and Racial Equity recently wrote in MarketWatch that “the renewed national conversation about police violence has opened a window for elected officials and community members to consider a range of abolition strategies designed to reprioritize budgets and spending, reduce the militarization of police departments, shift power to marginalized communities and reduce the need for police altogether. “
No officers were indicted over the death of Breonna Taylor, but fired officer Brett Hankison was charged for shooting into neighboring apartments. The FBI is still investigating potential violations of federal law in the Breonna Taylor case.
The officers who shot Taylor multiple times entered her home on a no-knock warrant during a narcotics investigation. The warrant used to search her home was connected to a suspect who did not live there, and no drugs were found inside. The use of no-knock warrants has since been banned by Louisville’s Metro Council.
