The lawsuits against Louisville regarding the killing of Breonna Taylor settled for $2 million. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, will receive the amount to settle his state and federal lawsuits.
“He will live with the effects of being put in harm’s way due to a falsified warrant, to being a victim of a hailstorm of gunfire and to suffering the unimaginable and horrific death of Breonna Taylor,” one of Walker’s attorneys, Steve Romines, said, according to CBS, adding that it would “haunt Kenny for the rest of his life.”
Per a News Onyx report, Taylor died on March 13, 2020, after Louisville police officers barged into their home unannounced. Thinking they were intruders, Walker got his licensed firearm and shot once at Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, attempting to protect his girlfriend. However, Mattingly and two other officers, including Brett Hankinson, fired 22 shots into the apartment. Hankinson fired an additional 10 times, hitting Taylor and killing her.
Walker was arrested and initially charged with attempting to murder a police officer, but the charges were dropped once the case gained attention worldwide.
In addition to firing their guns an unnecessary amount of times, officer Kelly Goodlet and Joshua Jaynes tried to cover up their mistakes by falsifying the affidavit, claiming that a postal director confirmed to them that Taylor received packages from the suspect they were looking for, her ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover.
In both lawsuits, Walker argued that the officers violated his rights once the officers approved the false warrant and that the officers didn’t announce themselves before barging in.
In August, Walker wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post, titling it, “Finally, some basic justice for my girlfriend, Breonna Taylor.”
“Knowing all the problems that this failed raid would create, the Louisville police tried to use me as a scapegoat to deflect blame, Walker wrote. “It almost worked.”
