Lewis Hamilton is facing an FIA investigation for wearing a ‘political’ T-shirt demanding the arrest of officers involved in a high-profile police shooting in America.
Hamilton, 35, collected his trophy for winning the Tuscan Grand Prix while paying tribute to emergency medical technician Breonna Taylor, 26, who was shot dead by Louisville Metro Police in Kentucky on March 13.
Officers attended her apartment that night after securing a court-approved warrant as part of a drugs investigation that allowed officers to enter her home without any prior warning.
Today, standing victorious on the podium at the Mugello Circuit in Italy, Hamilton wore a t-shirt with the words ‘Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor’ written across his torso, with a picture of the deceased woman on his back below the words ‘say her name’.
Today Mr Hamilton, 35, arrived at the Mugello Circuit in Italy with the words ‘Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor’ written across his torso, with a picture of the deceased woman on his back below the words ‘say her name’
Race winner Lewis Hamilton, second placed Valtteri Bottas of Finland and Mercedes GP and third placed Alexander Albon of Thailand and Red Bull Racing celebrate on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Tuscany at Mugello Circuit on September 13
Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes-AMG Petronas celebrates after winning the Formula One Grand Prix of Tuscany at the race track in Mugello, Italy 13 September
Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes-AMG Petronas reacts after the Formula One Grand Prix of Tuscany at the race track in Mugello, Italy 13 September 2020
Hamilton wore the shirt during the ‘taking a knee’ ceremony and on the podium as God Save the Queen played to celebrate his 90th career win.
The shooting of Breonna Taylor
Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old black emergency medical technician, was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove on March 13, 2020.
Three plainclothes LMPD officers entered her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky, executing a no-knock search warrant (although, according to the police account and witnesses present at the scene, the officers nonetheless knocked before forcing entry).
Gunfire was exchanged between Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker and the officers. Walker said that he believed that the officers were intruders. The LMPD officers fired over twenty shots. Taylor was shot eight times and LMPD Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly was injured by gunfire. Another police officer and an LMPD lieutenant were on the scene when the warrant was executed.
The primary targets of the LMPD investigation were Jamarcus Glover and Adrian Walker, who were suspected of selling controlled substances from a drug house more than 10 miles away. According to a Taylor family attorney, Glover had dated Taylor two years before and continued to have a ‘passive friendship’.
The search warrant included Taylor’s residence because it was suspected that Glover received packages containing drugs at Taylor’s apartment and because a car registered to Taylor had been seen parked on several occasions in front of Glover’s house. No drugs were found in the apartment.
Kenneth Walker, who was licensed to carry a firearm, fired first, injuring a law enforcement officer, whereupon police returned fire into the apartment with more than 20 rounds.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed against the police by the Taylor family’s attorney alleges that the officers, who entered Taylor’s home ‘without knocking and without announcing themselves as police officers’, opened fire ‘with a total disregard for the value of human life’. However, according to the police account, the officers did knock and announce themselves before forcing entry.
A New York Times investigation confirmed from interviews with Kenneth Walker and with Taylor’s neighbours that the police had knocked loudly before breaking in, but most had not heard them announce themselves.
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The Kentucky Attorney General is still investigating the killing, which has led to riots in America, so Hamilton’s intervention is seen by several senior F1 figures as being potentially ‘political’.
FIA statutes forbid political statements of any kind.
Hamilton could be fined, with one official privately indicating to Sportsmail the Mercedes man had ‘crossed a line’.
The FIA and the sport’s owners Liberty Media have previously tried hard to work with Hamilton on his anti-racism fight.
Having also worn the shirt on the grid prior to the race Hamilton paid tribute to the emergency medical technician in his post-race interview.
There he admitted his race was tough following a chaotic GP at Mugello that saw three race starts following two red flag incidents following major crashes.
‘It was like three races in one day,’ he said after the race. ‘Just incredibly tough. We had a difficult start.
‘The heat and keeping Valtteri (Bottas) behind, who has been quick all weekend, was not easy. I was behind at the beginning. Total focus was needed for the restarts. It was really, really hard.
‘Keeping that over one-second gap was crucial as I didn’t want them [race rivals] to have DRS on that 1000m straight. Justice for Breonna Taylor.’
Hamilton now heads to Russia in two weeks time looking to equal Michael Schumacher’s Formula One record of 91 victories.
Should the world champion taste success again in Sochi, he could then break the German’s record at the following race in his homeland at the German Grand Prix held at the Nurburgring.
On the night of Ms Taylor’s death, she and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker had been sleeping in bed when the officers served the warrant at around 1am.
The suspect at the centre of the probe had apparently lived at the same address years earlier and continued to receive packages there.
Mr Walker, a licensed gun owner, had fired a shot in the direction of the doorway, thinking the couple were victims of a home invasion.
The shot struck Sergeant Mattingly in the leg before Officer Hankinson returned fire, discharging his weapon in the direction of Walker 10 times.
Mr Mattingly and Mr Cosgrove also opened fire. Ms Taylor was hit eight times and pronounced dead at the scene.
‘Somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend,’ a frantic Mr Walker told dispatchers in a 911 call.
Unbeknownst to the officers at their home, the suspect they were searching for had been taken into custody hours earlier in a separate location.
Ms Taylor’s death received national attention two months later, following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police in May.
The three officers who fired their weapons that night have been at the center of consistent public backlash ever since, with protesters calling for them to be fired and charged with murder.
Ms Taylor and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker had been sleeping in bed when the officers served the warrant at around 1am
Today Mr Hamilton, 35, arrived at the Mugello Circuit in Italy with the words ‘Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor’ written across his torso
Lewis Hamilton of Britain raises the trophy as he stands on the podium after winning the Formula One Grand Prix of Tuscany, at the Mugello circuit in Scarperia, Italy
MrHamilton’s shirt bore a picture of the deceased black woman on his back below the words ‘say her name’
Lewis Hamilton celebrates on the podium after winning the race alongside second placed Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and third placed Red Bull’s Alexander Albon Pool
Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP wears a t-shirt displaying the message ‘arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor’ on the grid in support of ending racism before the F1 Grand Prix of Tuscany at Mugello Circuit on September 13
Message: Lewis Hamilton wore a T-shirt calling for the arrest of the police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor as he arrived at Italy’s Tuscan Grand Prix on Sunday
One of the officers, Brett Hankison, was fired for ‘blindly’ firing 10 shots into Taylor’s apartment from outside. The other two, John Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, remain on the force on administrative assignment.
Last month, Lewis Hamilton opened up on his experiences growing up in the UK dealing with racism and being part of a ‘white dominated’ sport.
The Mercedes driver has been an instrumental figure in F1’s campaigning against racism and promotion of the Black Lives Matter movement on race weekends.
Hamilton spoke with footballing legend Thierry Henry and Olympic great Tommie Smith – in a chat organised by Puma – to discuss racism they experienced in sport between three different generations.
Hamilton said: ‘I’m in a sport which is white dominated and there is very little diversity, for example. And with everything that happened in the states, it really brought up a lot of emotions for me.
Ms Taylor, pictured, had no criminal record and worked for two local hospitals
One of the officers, Brett Hankison (left), was fired for ‘blindly’ firing 10 shots into Taylor’s apartment from outside. The other two, (left to right) John Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, remain on the force on administrative assignment.
Lewis Hamilton sprays sparkling wine on the podium as celebrates after winning the race with third placed Red Bull’s Alexander Albon Pool
Scooter: The Mercedes driver was seen riding a scooter on the grounds hours before the race
Social media post: Ahead of stepping out in his ensemble, Lewis took to Instagram to post a selfie, along with the caption, ‘#JusticeForBreonnaTaylor’
‘A lot of people think it is only happening in the states. Yes, there is the police brutality in the states but systemic racism is across the world.
‘Very much in Europe and England. I experienced that a lot growing up in the UK and then when I started driving race cars.
‘This year it has come around and I have got the sport now to acknowledge that it needs to do more.’
The Mercedes driver also opened up on his early days in driving as a junior, when he and his father would be the only black people on the race scene.
On the grid: He was later seen taking a knee while continuing to wear the T-shirt on the grid
He added: ‘When I was going to those races as a kid, we were the only black people on the race scene.
‘I don’t know if you have seen Cool Runnings but there is a scene where they arrive at the top of the hill and I don’t think they have ever seen black people up there before and that was always how it was with me and my Dad.
‘Particularly when we first started and how that felt, I was always fortunate I could lean back on my dad.’
Mr Hamilton celebrated the 90th win of his Formula One career, one short of Michael Schumacher’s all-time record, after a crash-strewn Tuscan Grand Prix on Sunday that was twice stopped and re-started.
The six-times world champion’s Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas completed the Mercedes one-two at the Ferrari-owned Mugello circuit in central Italy.
Red Bull’s British-born Thai driver Alexander Albon, whose Dutch team mate Max Verstappen retired in the gravel after a second corner collision, took third place for his first career F1 podium.
T-shirts: Other racers were also seen wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the words ‘end racism’
Expression: The Formula One ace has often been seen expressing his stance against racism
‘It was all a bit of a daze. It was like three races in one day,’ gasped Hamilton, who finished 4.880 seconds clear of Bottas for a record 222nd points finish in a race with three standing starts.
‘All those restarts, the focus that’s needed during that time, it’s really, really hard,’ he said.
The race was Ferrari’s 1,000th championship grand prix but the best the sport’s most successful team could manage was eighth for Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton’s sixth win in nine races this season sent him 55 points clear of Bottas, with eight rounds remaining, and the Briton also took an extra point for fastest lap.
Mercedes, celebrating their 100th win in the modern era, are now 152 points clear of second-placed Red Bull in the constructors’ standings.
Tragedy: Breonna Taylor, 26, pictured, died in the early hours of March 13 after cops raided her home in Louisville, Kentucky, where they shot her eight times
Racism: Formula 1 champ Lewis recently opened up on his experiences growing up with racism
The race was first stopped eight laps in after a mass-collision among backmarkers when the safety car, deployed at the end of the opening lap, headed back into the pits.
It was red-flagged again with 13 laps remaining when Canadian Lance Stroll crashed his Racing Point after an apparent puncture.
Mr Hamilton has previously said: ‘I’m in a sport which is white dominated and there is very little diversity, for example. And with everything that happened in the states, it really brought up a lot of emotions for me.
‘A lot of people think it is only happening in the states. Yes, there is the police brutality in the states but systemic racism is across the world.
‘Very much in Europe and England. I experienced that a lot growing up in the UK and then when I started driving race cars.
‘This year it has come around and I have got the sport now to acknowledge that it needs to do more.’
Battle: Hamilton has been an instrumental figure in Formula One’s support to end racism
BLM: The Mercedes driver has been active in his support for the Black Lives Matter movement
Early days: The Mercedes driver also opened up on his early days in driving as a junior, when he and his father would be the only black people on the race scene
The Mercedes driver also opened up on his early days in driving as a junior, when he and his father would be the only black people on the race scene.
He added: ‘When I was going to those races as a kid, we were the only black people on the race scene.
‘I don’t know if you have seen Cool Runnings but there is a scene where they arrive at the top of the hill and I don’t think they have ever seen black people up there before and that was always how it was with me and my Dad.
‘Particularly when we first started and how that felt, I was always fortunate I could lean back on my dad.’
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