Officer involved in Breonna Taylor's death sued for sexual assault

Nine other women have made similar accusations about Mr Hankison

The police officer at the center of the Breonna Taylor shooting has been sued for sexual assault in an unrelated incident.  

Margo Borders alleged that Brett Hankison - the officer who shot and killed Ms Taylor - befriended her in 2018 when he worked a second job as a security guard at a bar.  

According to Ms Borders' lawsuit, Mr Hankison offered her a ride home from the bar one night when she was drunk. She was 22 at the time. Mr Hankison was 42. She claims she felt safe with Mr Hankison at the time and that the two were friends.  

“Given that Margo was alone and that Hankison was sober and the police, she liked having that protection,” the lawsuit says. “The two looked over social media and laughed over the actions of some other patrons of the bar.”

The lawsuit alleges that Mr Hankison convinced Ms Borders not to call an Uber, and offered to drive her home instead.

She claims when Mr Hankison dropped her off at her apartment, he followed her up to her apartment and sexually assaulted her after she passed out on her bed.  

Ms Borders' lawsuit alleges the officer “went into her room, stripped off his clothes and willfully, intentionally, painfully and violently sexually assaulted" her.

She claims that Mr Hankison called her later that day trying to convince her the encounter had been consensual.  

Ms Borders claims in her lawsuit that she was left "physically injured and mentally battered" and that Mr Hankison has a history of preying on women.  

Emily Terry, a grad school student, claimed in an Instagram post that she was walking home drunk from a bar in 2019 when Mr Hankison pulled alongside her and offered her a ride home. She accepted, and he allegedly began "making sexual advances toward me; rubbing my thigh, kissing my forehead, and calling me 'baby.'"

"Mortified, I did not move. I continued to talk about my grad school experiences and ignored him," she wrote in her post.  

She claims she told her friend about the encounter, and her friend reported the incident to the police. Ms Terry claims her report generated no response from the police.  

In addition to Ms Terry, eight other women have come forward with claims that Mr Hankison preyed on them in similar ways. He allegedly always stalks outside the same bar and offers to drive intoxicated women home.  

One woman claimed that the officer stole her phone to obtain her Snapchat information before begging her to let him drive her home. She said that Mr Hankison sent her videos and pictures of himself masturbating weeks later.  

According to the lawsuit, Mr Hankison has been investigated at least twice by the Louisville police's Public Integrity Unit regarding sexual misconduct.  

One accuser claimed Mr Hankison offered to waive criminal charges if they performed sexual favors for him. In another incident, Mr Hankison allegedly hit on a woman who was the subject of an active investigation.  

He was cleared in both instances.

Mr Hankison was fired from the Louisville Police Department in June after being indicted by a grand jury in Jefferson County on three charges of wanton endangerment.  

Mr Hankison pleaded not guilty to those charges. None of the officers involved in the shooting were directly charged with killing Ms Taylor.

The Independent reached out to Mr Hankison’s lawyer, who was not immediately available to comment.