Allegations of sexual assault have emerged against one of the three white officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old unarmed African American EMT and aspiring nurse who was fatally shot by police on March 13 in Louisville, Kentucky, while executing a no-knock search warrant.
At least three women have come forward with claims that officer Brett Hankison of the Louisville Metro Police Department sexually assaulted them, in separate posts shared on social media. The LMPD has reached out to the women "to initiate and conduct an investigation" after they brought the issue to its attention.
Margo Borders
Borders, who took to Facebook to share her story, said the incident happened in April 2018. "... a police officer who I had interacted with on many occasions at bars in St. Matthews offered me a ride home. He drove me home in uniform, in his marked car, invited himself into my apartment and sexually assaulted me while I was unconscious."
She added that she did not report him out of "fear of retaliation" before naming Hankison as her alleged assailant. "I had no proof of what happened and he had the upper hand because he was a police officer. Who do you call when the person who assaulted you is a police officer? Who were they going to believe? I knew it wouldn't be me."
Emily Terry
Terry shared an Instagram post recounting the alleged assault, which she says took place last fall. "I began walking home from a bar intoxicated. A police officer pulled up next to me and offered me a ride home. I thought to myself, 'Wow. That is so nice of him.' And willingly got in," she wrote.
"He began making sexual advances towards me; rubbing my thigh, kissing my forehead, and calling me 'baby,'" she continued. "Mortified, I did not move. I continued to talk about my grad school experiences and ignored him. As soon as he pulled up to my apartment building, I got out of the car and ran to the back. My friend reported this the next day, and of course nothing came from it."
"Not all cops are bad but this one is," she concluded the post alongside a photo of Hankison.
Kelsey Fellmua
Fellmua also took to Instagram to reveal that Hankison came on to her and one of her girlfriends while they were smoking and waiting for their uber outside a bar.
"He continued to make all of the sexual remarks, getting really grabby on me and my friend and kept asking to take us home. Over and over. Continued to try to convince us to let him," she said. "And I'm like nah we're good. This dragged on for about 5 minutes. Then He became super handsy on my friend when he realized I wasn't having that shit and he kept trying to convince her to let him."
Fellmua added that neither she nor her friend went with Hankison but he made them feel "extremely uncomfortable."
"THIS COP did not make me feel safe and seeing his face everywhere, knowing he is responsible for taking #breonnataylor's life, knowing I didn't say anything back then because of the fear that we will just be silenced is just corrupt and my heart aches and I'm sorry. I'm telling you all now though- that he is F----D UP."
Receiving Sexual Favors from Suspects
Hankison has previously been accused of receiving sexual favors from suspects. In 2008, he was accused of receiving oral sex in exchange for not arresting a woman, and in 2015 a woman claimed he attempted to have sex with her in exchange for not taking her to jail, records show, as reported by WRDB. Both incidents were deemed to be "unfounded" by internal investigators with LMPD.
