A US federal judge has sentenced former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison to 33 months in prison for violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who was killed during a botched drug raid in 2020.

Taylor, a health care worker, was shot to death in her apartment on March 13, 2020, during a no-knock police raid in Louisville, Kentucky.

Her killing sparked national protests over racial injustice and police violence.

During the late-night raid, Taylor’s roommate — believing intruders had entered their home — fired a legally owned weapon.

Officers responded with a hail of gunfire.

Hankison was convicted last year for firing blindly into Taylor’s apartment, with bullets entering a neighbouring unit as well.

He was found guilty of using excessive force that violated Taylor’s constitutional rights.

Taylor’s death, alongside the killings of George Floyd and others, became a rallying point for the Black Lives Matter movement and intensified calls for police reform across the United States.