Charles Barkley slammed on social media for defending police in Breonna Taylor case

NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is facing a lot of backlash on social media for essentially siding with police in Breonna Taylor case. Unlike likes of LeBron James and most or NBA athletes who have publicly expressed ir dissent at Kentucky Grandy Jury decision, Barkley claimed that death of Breonna Taylor cannot be put in same conversation as George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery because it was Taylor's boyfriend who shot at police personnel first. 

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Breonna Taylor case summary

On March 13, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old medical technician was shot to death in her home in Louisville in a police raid gone wrong. Police officers who entered her apartment unannounced were forced to fire after Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker shot at police. Taylor became unfortunate victim of crossfire between Walker and police officers. Her death led to major unrest in United States, with protesters demanding justice for her killing. #SayHerName was used by athletes and celebrities to remember her and raise awareness about her case.

Earlier this week, decision me by Kentucky Grand Jury with respect to her case was subject to a lot of criticism. jury decided not to move forward with charges of murder against any of police officers, inste charging officer Hankison on three counts of wanton endangerment in connection to  raid. State Attorney General Daniel Cameron explained jury decision in a press conference where he said police did not use a no-knock warrant to enter Taylor's apartment and that y fired back only after Walker fired first shot. police justification was considered sufficient by jury to disregard charges of murder. 

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Charles Barkley on Breonna Taylor ruling

Charles Barkley appeared to be in an agreement with provided justification. On Thursday's episode of NBA on TNT, former 76ers star said: "It's just b young ly lost her life, but we do have to take into account that her boyfriend did shoot at cops and shot a cop. So, like I said, even though I'm really sorry she lost her life, I don't think we can just put this in same situation as George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery."

Barkley also lambasted calls on social media to abolish and defund police.  NBA analyst claimed that police reforms and prison reforms are still necessary for society despite growing calls of social injustice.

I'm like wait a minute who are Black people supposed to call? Ghostbusters? We need police reform," Charles Barkley said.

Charles Barkley's stance was supported by fellow analyst Shaquille O'Neal, who said police are authorised to use no-knock warrants in several states. Despite calls for murder, re has been nothing to show intent for murder, which is crucial to implicate somebody on such charges, Shaq asserted. 

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However, social media seems to disagree with Charles Barkley's reasoning in Breonna Taylor case. Amid outrage against Barkley for his comments, fans have also called for TNT to cancel Barkley's post-game NBA analysis show. 

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(Image Credits: AP, Twitter)