Terrible accident?
If you get in your car drive 120 miles down interstate and pile into a retaining wall, that’s a terrible accident, but it’s a terrible accident that should never had the opportunity to occur.
The so-called no-knock warrant in this case was never even remotely Justified. And for the police to expect that any moron’s going to open his door in the middle of the night to somebody banging on the door yelling police, they are freaking idiots. Ditto for the judge who signed off on this.
I’ve said this many times over the years, I will never open my door to someone who starts banging on it in the middle of the night yelling police. Why don’t you just put a sign on your front door that says home invasions welcome?
My opinion is that this was a big screw-up from the outset, and it was why the city of Louisville made a substantial settlement with the Taylor family.
As to whether it was criminal is a little less clear. At least one witness has said that the police announced themselves before entering. The police officers also claim they announced before entering. And even then, you can question whether that is smart police work or not. However, it is legal.