Demonstrators demanding justice for Breonna Taylor gather in Jefferson Square Park on March 13, 2021, in Louisville. Photo / Joshua Lott, the Washington Post
Five years ago, the high-profile killings of three black Americans sparked a national reckoning over racial inequality and police conduct.
In the spring and summer of 2020, United States protesters flooded the streets demanding justice for the victims.
Two of the deaths were caused by police officers, prompting calls for accountability and an end to police brutality and practices that protesters said were abusive.
To many Americans, the three unrelated cases were symptomatic of the unique threats and risks that face black Americans.
Ahmaud Arbery was chased by three armed white men in utes while jogging through a Georgia neighbourhood in February and was shot to death.
Breonna Taylor was killed by a white police officer in March while in her bed in Louisville during a botched police raid.
And George Floyd died in May in Minneapolis after being pinned to the ground under the knee of a white police officer as he gasped for air.
Yesterday, former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison was sentenced to 33 months in prison for violating Taylor’s civil rights during the raid.
The Trump Administration had sought only a one-day sentence, suggesting he should not have faced civil rights charges.
Hankison is one of nine people who have been convicted of at least some charges in connection with the three deaths.
Many jurisdictions passed police-accountability laws after the killings of Floyd and Taylor, both of whose families sued and received large financial settlements.
But some of those accountability measures have been rolled back, and the Justice Department under President Donald Trump has moved away from federal investigations of police.
Here’s a rundown of what has happened in the aftermath of all three killings:
Ahmaud Arbery, 25
Travis McMichael, his father Greg McMichael, and their neighbour William “Roddie” Bryan were convicted on multiple charges in Arbery’s death, including state murder and federal hate crimes, and sentenced to life in prison.
The McMichaels’ sentences included no possibility of parole.
A separate grand jury indicted former district attorney Jackie Johnson after she was accused of obstructing the investigation into Arbery’s death.
A judge tossed the oath of office charge against Johnson and ordered her acquitted of the obstruction charge in February 2025, ending the trial before it went to the jury.
Georgia lawmakers passed hate crimes legislation and repealed the citizen’s arrest law, which had been used to justify the 25-year-old’s shooting death.
Breonna Taylor, 26
Two former Louisville police officers have been convicted in connection with the botched police raid that led to Taylor’s death on March 13, 2020.
Hankison was found guilty in November of violating Taylor’s civil rights. Jurors found he used excessive force by firing 10 shots through Taylor’s apartment window and door, both covered with shades and curtains.
He was acquitted on a second charge of violating the rights of three neighbours.
Kelly Goodlett pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges in August 2022, admitting that she helped falsify the search warrant used in the raid and lied to investigators to cover up the act.
She is awaiting sentencing and is expected to testify against fellow Louisville officers Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany, who were also charged with falsifying the search warrant affidavit.
Their trial date has not yet been set.
Goodlett faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison; it’s not clear whether the Justice Department will change its posture in her, Jaynes’ or Meany’s cases, as it did for Hankinson’s.
Louisville police detective Myles Cosgrove and officer John Mattingly, who fired a combined 22 shots during the raid, with Cosgrove firing the shot that killed Taylor, have not been charged.
Kentucky’s Attorney-General at the time Daniel Cameron said the two men were justified in opening fire after Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker shot at them.
Louisville city officials have reached a US$12 million ($20m) settlement with Taylor’s family, agreed to pay US$2m to Walker, and approved “Breonna’s Law”, which bans local police from using no-knock warrants. In 2021, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (Democrat) signed a bill into law limiting their use.
George Floyd, 46
Four former Minneapolis officers have been convicted in connection with Floyd’s May 25, 2020, death.
Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, was sentenced to 22½ years for a state murder charge and 20 years on a federal charge of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
He is serving the sentences concurrently as part of a federal plea deal and is in a federal prison in Texas, according to federal inmate records.
Former officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane and Tou Thao, who were present at Floyd’s death, were convicted on state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter and federal charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
They also were allowed to serve their sentences concurrently. Lane was released from federal prison in August and Keung in January. Both are under supervised release, according to court documents.
Thao is set to be released on November 3, according to federal inmate records.
The city of Minneapolis in 2021 agreed to pay US$27m to Floyd’s family to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit.
The city in 2023 reached a nearly US$9m settlement with two people who filed suits accusing Chauvin of pressing his knee into their necks during arrests years before Floyd’s death.
After Floyd’s killing, lawmakers across the country passed hundreds of ordinances, including bans on chokeholds and no-knock warrants, although some were rolled back amid fear of increased crime.
A national police reform bill failed in Congress.
In Minneapolis, city officials funded alternatives to policing, such as behavioural crisis response teams, a community safety centre and a community commission on police oversight.
City officials also entered a consent agreement with the Justice Department, under President Joe Biden, in an effort to curb excessive force and racial discrimination.
However, the agency dropped its support for the consent decree after Trump took office.