87 Face Felony Charges Over Breonna Taylor Protest At Kentucky Attorney General's Home

As many as 87 people protesting the death of Breonna Taylor were arrested outside the house of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron at Louisville Tuesday, July 14.

The protest was part of a nationwide cry against police brutality and racial injustice sparked by the deaths of Black Americans including Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky and George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Louisville Metro Police Department said the protesters were charged with intimidating a participant in a legal process, which is a felony.

"The protesters chose to occupy the front yard of a home owned by the Kentucky Attorney General and continuously chant towards he and his neighbors," Sergeant Lamont Washington said in the statement. "All were given the opportunity to leave, were told that remaining on the property would be unlawful, and chose not to leave."

Among those arrested was Porsha Williams, a reality television star who appears on the show "Real Housewives of Atlanta." Williams joined the protest along with reality TV stars Yandy Smith and Tamika Mallory.

TMZ reported that Williams was taken away from Cameron’s home by LMPD officers and into a black police van. She and other protesters also face charges for 2nd-degree disorderly conduct and 3rd-degree criminal trespass.

New York-based Until Freedom, which organized the protest, demanded accountability from the LMPD. "We must now escalate our actions so that the powers that be know, we will not stop until we get justice for Breonna and her family."

Taylor, a Black emergency room technician, died on March 13 after plainclothes police officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove entered her apartment in the middle of the night shot her eight times. Her boyfriend Kenneth Walker fired at the officers, believing them to be intruders.

Cameron said that the protests on his lawn was “unacceptable” and would cause “further division and tension” in the community.

"We continue with a thorough and fair investigation, and today’s events will not alter our pursuit of the truth," Cameron said. He has not yet filed criminal charges against the officers involved in Taylor’s death.

The officers had relied on a "no-knock" warrant to enter Taylor's house. Walker was initially charged with assault and attempted murder, but the charges have since been dropped. Local and federal authorities said they continued to investigate the case.