Black Lives Matter: Four police officers charged with murder of Breonna Taylor

The deaths of Taylor and George Floyd, who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020, became the focus of a wave of mass protests in the United States.

The US Justice Department charged four police officers on Thursday over the death of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman killed in a botched 2020 raid on her home in Louisville, Kentucky.

A photo of Breonna Taylor is seen among other photos of women who have lost their lives as a result of violence during the 2nd Annual Defend Black Women March in Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC.  (AFP)

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the four officers were being charged with civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracy, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction.

The deaths of Taylor and George Floyd, who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020, became the focus of a wave of mass protests in the United States and beyond against racial injustice and police brutality.

Garland said three of the officers -- Joshua Jaynes, Kelly Goodlett and Kyle Meany -- were charged with falsification of a search warrant in a suspected drug trafficking case.

They are accused of violating Taylor's rights by seeking a warrant to search her home when they knew they lacked probable cause for such a search.

The fourth officer, Brett Hankison, was charged with using excessive force by opening fire wildly during the raid which left Taylor dead.

Taylor was fatally shot after officers on a narcotics squad used a battering ram to enter her apartment in 2020.