Kenneth Walker III, of Louisville, settles lawsuits against Walker in the wake of the unlawful police raid that led to Breonna Taylor’s death
Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker III, has reached a $2 million dollar settlement with the City of Louisville, resolving lawsuits Walker filed in response to “the unlawful police raid that led to Ms. Taylor’s death,” a news release from Walker’s legal team says.
Breonna Taylor, 26, was shot and killed by Louisville Metro Police Department officers on March 13, 2020, as they executed a search warrant as part of a narcotics investigation in the early morning hours.
Walker and Taylor were settled in bed for the night when they were roused by banging on her apartment door around midnight on March 13, 2020. Police were outside with a drug warrant, and they used a battering ram to knock down the door. Walker fired a single shot from a handgun, striking Sgt. John was in the leg. Mattingly and two other officers then opened fire, killing Taylor.
In September 2020 Walker filed a lawsuit in the state, followed by a federal lawsuit in March 2021. The Louisville Metro Government was named as one of the defendants in the lawsuits that alleged that the search warrant and shooting of Taylor was false.
Steve Romines said in a statement that the city agreed to pay $2 million to resolve lawsuits filed by Kenneth Walker. He said that Taylor’s death would haunt Kenny for the rest of his life.
He will live with the consequences of being put in harm’s way, to be a victim of a hailstorm of gunfire, and to suffer the unimaginable and horrific death of Breonna Taylor, Romines said.
The Louisville Police and the “No-knock” Taylor Warrant: A Case Study in the Case of Goodlett vs. Walker
The case highlighted the issue of “no-knock” warrants, which allow law enforcement agents to enter a home without announcing their presence, and led to a reexamination of the practice.
Three Louisville police officers were charged with a conspiracy to lie about the Taylor warrant. Kelly Goodlett pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the creation of a false link between Taylor and a wanted drug dealer.
Walker wrote in the Washington Post in August that a police officer had finally taken some responsibility for the death of his girlfriend.
“Knowing all the problems that this failed raid would create, the Louisville police tried to use me as a scapegoat to deflect blame,” he wrote. “It almost worked.”
Walker’s attorneys said Monday that part of the settlement would be used to set up a scholarship for law school students interested in practicing civil rights law. Another portion will be contributed to the Center for Innovations in Community Safety, a police and community reform Center at Georgetown Law School.