“The Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Porsha Williams and “Love and Hip Hop New York” veteran Yandy Smith-Harris were released from the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections on the morning of Wednesday, July 15.
The two reality stars were among at least 87 people arrested on Tuesday, July 14, including Black Lives Matter activist Tamika Mallory and rappers Trae the Truth and YBN Cordae, for protesting outside of Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s home in Louisville as a way to demand justice for Breonna Taylor. Williams and Smith both were charged with intimidating a participant in a legal process, criminal trespass in the third degree, and disorderly conduct in the second degree. Louisville Metro Police Department sergeant Lamont Washington confirmed that each person arrested at the demonstration racked up the same charges after they refused to leave Cameron’s home.
Some people were happy that Williams and Smith got out of jail, writing “Keep fighting Queens, they can’t stop the movement!👏🏽” Someone else said: “Free at last💕.”
Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by Louisville Metro Police officers on March 13. The 26-year-old emergency medical technician was sleeping alongside her boyfriend Kenneth Walker when the police allegedly invaded their home without knocking and announcing themselves as police. The officers insisted that they knocked several times and announced their presence as police who were there with a drug search warrant.
Kenneth explained that he believed the officers were intruders and fired a gun at the police, striking one officer in the leg. The police shot Breonna at least eight times only to find out there were no drugs in their apartment and that the actual suspect lived 10 miles away from their home. Kenneth initially was arrested and charged with attempted murder of a police officer. Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove, the officers at the scene, have yet to be arrested and charged for Breonna’s death.
Breonna’s slaying along with the death of George Floyd sparked an eruption of protests around the nation in an effort to end police brutality. Williams and Smith have been on the front lines in support of the Black Lives Matter movement by also attending peaceful demonstrations in their hometowns.
Cameron was not at home during the time the protesters were in his yard, but released a statement on Tuesday expressing his disapproval of the demonstrators’ tactics.
“From the beginning, our office has set out to do its job, to fully investigate the events surrounding the death of Ms. Breonna Taylor,” he said. “We continue with a thorough and fair investigation, and today’s events will not alter our pursuit of the truth. The stated goal of today’s protest at my home was to ‘escalate.’ That is not acceptable and only serves to further division and tension within our community. Justice is not achieved by trespassing on private property, and it’s not achieved through escalation. It’s achieved by examining the facts in an impartial and unbiased manner. That is exactly what we are doing and will continue to do in this investigation.”
