Breonna Taylor death: Family of Kentucky black EMT worker shot and killed in botched drug raid launch wrongful death lawsuit against Louisville police.
The family of a 26-year-old black emergency medical technician (EMT) shot dead in a botched drug raid are suing police after the unarmed ‘black’ woman was shot at least eight times at her Kentucky apartment.
The lawsuit comes three months after 3 narcotics officers barged into Breonna Taylor‘s home on March 13 just on 1.am, looking for a suspect, who was already in custody. To date none of the officers have been brought to account.
According to Taylor’s family, the officers entered the ‘decorated’ ambulance driver’s Louisville home she shared with her live in boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, without knocking or identifying themselves as police.
Authorities say the midnight search was part of a drug investigation, however, the lawsuit filed by the family states there was no drug found at the home. The family lawyers have said that the main suspect, Jamarcus Glover, was already in police custody at the time of the raid. Neither Taylor nor Walker had any criminal records.
Taylor’s family has now launched a wrongful death lawsuit against the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers and have hired the same civil rights lawyer who is currently also representing the family of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black jogger who was shot dead by two white men in Georgia in February. One of the suspects is a former police officer.
Cops fire 20 rounds of gunfire into home:
Taylor and Walker were reportedly sleeping in their bed when police raided their home. The couple thought they were being broken into and Walker, who has a license to carry, fired his gun thinking they were being robbed, the suit said.
It added that LMPD Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and officers Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove entered the couple’s apartment shortly before 1 am without announcing themselves. Walker is now facing charges of first-degree assault and attempted murder of a police officer after Mattingly was hit during the raid.
Taylor, who has worked for two local hospitals, was killed after police fired at least 20 rounds into the home. No police bodycam footage is available of that night, according to the suit. Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump described Taylor’s tragic death as a ‘senseless killing,’ the dailymail reports.
‘We stand with the family of this young woman in demanding answers from the Louisville Police Department,’ Tallahassee, Florida, based Crump said in a statement. ‘Despite the tragic circumstances surrounding her death, the department has not provided any answers regarding the facts and circumstances of how this tragedy occurred, nor have they taken responsibility for her senseless killing.’
‘They’re killing our sisters just like they’re killing our brothers,’ the lawyer added. ‘But for whatever reason, we have not given our sisters the same attention that we have given to Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Stephon Clark, Terence Crutcher, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Laquan McDonald. Breonna’s name should be known by everybody in America who said those other names, because she was in her own home, doing absolutely nothing wrong.’
The lawsuit said that neither of the two had any criminal history for drugs or violence or posed any immediate threat.
‘Breonna had committed no crime, posed no immediate threat to the safety of the defendants and did not actively resist or attempt to evade arrest prior to being repeatedly shot and killed by the defendants.’ the suit stated. ‘The officers failed to use any sound reasonable judgment whatsoever when firing more than 25 blind shots into multiple homes and causing the wrongful death of Breonna.’
Family seek justice:
Taylor’s family is now seeking unspecified damages, alleging wrongful death, excessive force and gross negligence from the police officers.
Offered Breonna’s mother, Tamika Pamer: ‘Not one person has talked to me. Not one person has explained anything to me. I want justice for her. I want them to say her name. There’s no reason Breonna should be dead at all.’
‘She was an essential worker. She had to go to work. She didn’t have a problem with that. To not be able to sleep in her own bed without someone busting down her door and taking her life. I was just like, ‘Make sure you wash your hands!’’ the mother added.
Another attorney working with the Talylor family, Sam Aguiar, told The Courier Journal, that ever since the shooting, the police department has attempted to ‘sweep this under the rug’ when the family wants to know of the full circumstances of what happened that night. ‘This was clearly a botched execution of a warrant,’ the lawyer said.
A spokeswoman for LMPD declined to respond to media overtures, citing an ongoing internal investigation.
‘We held a press conference about this shooting when it occurred to detail what we were able,’ spokeswoman Jessie Halladay told the Courier Journal in an email. ‘The Public Integrity investigation remains ongoing, therefore it would not be appropriate for us to comment.’
