A former Louisville Metro police (LMPD) detective involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor is being sued for sexual assault, according to REVOLT.
A woman in her 20s filed the lawsuit on Tuesday (November 10), alleging the ex-LMPD cop Brett Hankison made "unwanted sexual advances" towards her. The filing claims this event happened back in 2018 after a night out with her friends at a St. Matthews bar. Hankison, who was working as security at the bar that night, offered the woman a ride home; that was when he allegedly sexually assaulted her, according to the lawsuit.
“[The alleged victim] was physically injured, mentally horrified and remained in emotional duress over both the assault and the feeling that any efforts made to hold Officer Hankison accountable for his actions would backfire,” the document read.
The lawsuit also alleges a pattern of behavior with the former detective. It claims he would meet young women at a bar while he was working, befriend them on social media and insist he take them home after they've been out drinking. Hankison would allegedly assault the victims when they are unconscious or intoxicated.
REVOLT said the sexual assault accusations date back to June, when two women came forward with allegations on social media as Taylor's death garnered media attention.
“We hope through this civil litigation that Brett Hankison will be held accountable," attorney Sam Aguiar said, who is representing the victim. "That his conduct will be exposed, that it will be made clear that this is something LMPD tolerated, that they had notice of, that they never acted on,” he said. “In civil litigation, you can’t ask for this to have never happened.”
Hankison is out on bond after being indicted for three counts of wanton endangerment in the March incident. The other two LMPD officers who faced charges, Det. Myles Cosgrove and Sgt. Jon Mattingly, did not get charged. None of them were charged in Taylor's death, and two anonymous grand jurors criticized the proceedings.
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