One of the officers who opened fire during the police raid in which Breonna Taylor was fatally shot is suing her boyfriend for alleged assault, battery and emotional distress on the night she was killed.
Louisville Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly said that boyfriend Kenneth Walker, 26, fired a shot that hit Mattingly in the leg after officers had entered the home on a 'no-knock' search warrant as part of a drugs investigation.
Mattingly, a 20-year veteran of the force, was the only officer wounded in the incident, and Taylor's boyfriend claimed he thought the officers were burglars.
Officers then returned fire, shooting into the apartment 32 times and killing 26-year-old Breonna in a hail of bullets.
Louisville Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly (pictured) is suing Breonna Taylor's boyfriend for alleged assault and emotional distress
Kenneth Walker and Breonna Taylor pictured above. Walker fired a shot that hit Mattingly in the leg after the officers had broken into the home on a no-knock search warrant
Walker has maintained Mattingly and the cops who fired at his girlfriend are the ones to blame
In previous interviews, Mattingly has blamed Walker for Taylor's death because the officers 'returned fire' after he was shot in the leg.
Taylor was shot multiple times on the night of her death on March 13 and died in her hallway. She had no criminal record and no drugs were found at the property.
The lawsuit states the incident caused Mattingly 'severe trauma, mental anguish, and emotional distress'.
'Walker's conduct in shooting Mattingly is outrageous, intolerable, and offends all accepted standards of decency and morality,' it reads, according to CBS News.
The police officer has previously said that Taylor's case is a tragedy but maintains he was doing his job.
'This is a point where we were doing our job, we gave too much time when we go in, I get shot, we returned fire,' Mattingly said in an interview with ABC News/The Courier Journal last week.
'This is not us going, hunting somebody down. This is not kneeling on a neck. It's nothing like that,' referring to George Floyd’s death.
The three officers involved in Breonna Taylor's case were (left to right) Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, Det. Brett Hankison and Det. Myles Cosgrove. In her case Hankison was charged last month for firing shots into a neighboring apartment with three people inside and he pleaded not guilty. Hankison was fired from the department in June and Mattingly and Cosgrove have been placed on administrative reassignment
Taylor pictured with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker above
In response to the lawsuit, Walker's lawyer said his client was 'immune from both criminal prosecution and civil liability as he was acting in self defense in his own home.'
Walker himself has filed suit against several Louisville police officers.
Mattingly, Detective Myles Cosgrove and former Detective Brett Hankison, were in plainclothes when they forced entry into Taylor’s apartment to conduct a 'no knock' warrant in an attempted drug raid shortly before 1am.
They started shooting after Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker fired what he called a 'warning shot' when police broke down the door.
He said he fired in self defense because the cops didn't announce themselves.
Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky home on March 13 when three plainclothes officers broke in during a botched drug raid
Anger simmers across the country as no officers have been charged in Taylor’s death despite national protests and demands for charges
Mattingly was the only officer injured in the incident as Walker’s bullet struck him in the femoral artery, which required surgery to heal.
The coroner's report showed Taylor was shot five times in the shower of bullets and she died in her hallway.
Former Detective Brett Hankison, the only officer fired over the incident, was indicted on three counts of wanton endangerment on September 23 because he fired shots into a neighboring apartment with three people inside. He pleaded not guilty five days later.
Mattingly and Det. Myles Cosgrove are still with the police department and have been placed on administrative reassignment.
Anger continues to simmer across the country as no officers have been charged in Taylor’s death despite national protests and demands for charges.
No comments:
Post a Comment