No charges for Breonna Taylor’s killers deeply impacted Celtics, NBA

The Boston Celtics and wider NBA community was deeply affected by the news of no charges against Breonna Taylor’s killers.

While it might not be the reason the Boston Celtics lost Game 4 of their East Finals series against the Miami Heat Wednesday, it was evident the lack of charges brought against the police who killed Louisville, Kentucky EMT Breonna Taylor weighed heavily on the team.

Taylor was killed by police executing a “No-Knock” warrant in March of this year, and the Kentucky District Attorney Daniel Cameron announced he was not planning on pursuing charges against those police, sparking a renewed round of nationwide protests.

Speaking to the media after the game, the topic of the decision from A.D. Cameron was posed to Celtics forward Jaylen Brown.

“It’s tough, to be honest. I wasn’t surprised by the verdict. It’s tough,” Brown added, in emphasis.

“It’s hard to gather the words, but I wasn’t surprised. I think that this society, the way it was built and the way — the intention was to never serve people of color initially, so when they were gearing up for what was about to happen, I knew the wrong decisions is probably being made but it doesn’t surprise me. It doesn’t surprise me at all. Until we dismantle, recreate or change the system that we have, it is going to continue to have victims like Breonna Taylor and others that fall victim to oppression.”

“It was tough getting emotionally ready for a game but to be honest, I wasn’t surprised and we just fell short –that was it,” added the Georgia native.

Brown has taken an active role in protesting police violence against Black and minority citizens throughout the pandemic and subsequent NBA restart, even driving 15 hours to his hometown of Atlanta to protest after the police killing of George Floyd in May.

Celtics head coach Brad Stevens also expressed confusion and displeasure with the decision not to press charges over Taylor’s shooting.

“I think just the idea of going into that apartment doesn’t make any sense, and to have 15 rounds of gunfire fired, five of which hit her,” he observed.

“[The police who fired the shots are to be charged with] “wanton endangerment”, which I didn’t even know existed before today for the charge,” he added, referring to the lesser charge one of the three officers will be charged with for the shots he fired that did not hit Taylor.

“I think it’s tough. At the end of the day, there’s been a call across the country — rightfully so — for more transparency, more accountability, and just a better community relationship. This feels like a setback to that. At the same time, I guess the other side is is you see a lot of cities, a lot of places, really taking steps that should have been taken a long time ago. But at least being taken now to make sure you know whether it’s meeting the initiatives of the “Eight Can’t Wait,” whether it’s committing to civilian review boards, whether it’s better transparency and data, whether it’s diversifying the police force even more to match that of the neighborhood, whatever the case may be.

“This doesn’t feel good today,” he added.

Noting that the team was largely dispersed when the news came down, Stevens related he had made himself available in case any of the players needed to speak to someone about the outcome.

He did not share whether anyone took him up on the offer.

While plenty of words were forthcoming from Stevens and his players both on the topic, one shared sentiment was the difficulty they were having absorbing the reality that, at least for now, there will be no justice for Breonna Taylor.

Former UConn standout and current All-Star starting point guard Kemba Walker was one such player.

“I can’t wrap my head around it, to be honest,” said  the New Yorker when asked about the D.A.’s call not to charge the officers.

“I’m kind of at a loss for words, to be honest with you. It’s a really sad situation. I just really feel bad for her and her family. They definitely deserve more; they deserve justice. And you know it didn’t happen. Which we as a people, we have to stand strong with them and support them as best as we can.”

“So, I wish the best for that family.”

As do we.

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