Attorneys representing Breonna Taylor’s family have taken legal action against the Louisville Police Department. According to multiple reports, attorney Sam Aguiar filed a lawsuit on Wednesday (July 7) that accuses Louisville cops of possibly withholding footage of the young woman’s death.
via: NBC News
Sam Aguiar said in the complaint that he has not received body camera information that he requested from police. He wants a judge to order the department to release it.
Taylor was fatally shot by police on March 13, 2020, after officers executed a no-knock warrant at her apartment as part of a narcotics investigation. No drugs were found in the home, her family said in a previous lawsuit that was settled with the city for $12 million.
Officers opened fire after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a single shot toward the door believing it was an intruder. The 26-year-old’s killing sparked nationwide protests.
Three officers — Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove — were involved in Taylor’s death, according to police. Hankison was fired by the department in June 2020, police said, and was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for bullets that went into a neighboring apartment. He has pleaded not guilty and a trial is set for next year.
None of the officers involved were charged with killing Taylor.
Earlier this year, the police department said it had fired Cosgrove and another officer, Joshua Jaynes. An attorney for Jaynes, who was accused of lying on the application seeking the warrant for the raid, said his client would appeal to a city board that reviews police terminations. Mattingly retired from the department last month.
The lawsuit said many Louisville officers “recorded their law enforcement activities on their body cameras.” It went on to say Cosgrove, Mattingly, Hankison and two other officers involved had body cameras assigned to them prior to the raid.
The officers are not named as defendants in the suit. They could not be reached for comment Friday.
According to the filing, the cameras can either be activated manually or automatically activated when the light bars of a police vehicle are turned on. Many of the police vehicles at Taylor’s home the night of the raid had their light bars on, including Cosgrove’s unmarked cruiser, the lawsuit stated.
We still want justice for Breonna Taylor.
