A former Louisville police officer, who was involved in the botched Breonna Taylor raid, told The Courier-Journal that Louisville Metro on Monday reached a $2 million settlement with the deceased woman’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker.
And though former Louisville Metro Police Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly told the news outlet that the aforementioned agreement had indeed been reached, Walker’s lawyer, Frederick Moore, said he cannot share any details about what took place during the mediation until “details have been finalized.”
A shot that Walker fired during the deadly raid struck Mattingly in the thigh before the officers returned fire. And in the wake of the raid, Walker named Mattingly and some of his colleagues as defendants in two civil lawsuits that he filed. But the former Louisville police officer told the news outlet that he and the other officers are exempt from making any payments.
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Joey Klausing, who is former LMPD Detective Kelly Goodlett’s lawyer, also said the lawsuit released Goodlett with no obligation to make any payment. In August, the former detective entered a guilty plea for helping falsify an affidavit that was used to secure the warrant for the deadly raid.
As previously reported by Face2Face Africa, Taylor was with Walker when she was shot by three Louisville police officers who broke into her apartment in the name of executing a no-knock search warrant in a narcotics investigation on March 13, 2020. The couple was sleeping at the time.
The officers fired into the home after Mattingly was struck by a bullet that Walker initially fired. Walker had claimed he opened fire because he thought an intruder was trying to enter the home. Taylor, 26, was shot and killed after the officers returned fire.
The civil and federal lawsuits that Walker filed in September 2020 named the city and multiple officers who played a role in the raid as defendants. The plaintiff, in the suits, asked the courts for punitive and compensatory damages. But it cannot be established if the settlement also covers the state lawsuit, The Courier-Journal reported.
In the suits, Walker alleges that his rights were breached when officers sanctioned the “materially false” search warrant and failed to make their presence known before making their way into the home. He also accuses the officers of using excessive and unreasonable force, adding that the violations in question were borne out of the LMPD’s policies, customs, and practices.
Shortly after the shooting, Walker faced charges including assault and attempted murder of a police officer. But authorities moved to permanently dismiss those charges in March last year.
Besides Mattingly and Goodlett, the other former Louisville police officers named in the lawsuit include Joshua Jaynes and Sgt. Kyle Meany. Goodlett, together with Jaynes and Meany, was in August slapped with federal civil rights violations charges.
Goodlett tendered her resignation to the LMPD after the Department of Justice indicted her and three of her ex-colleagues in connection with the botched raid. The 35-year-old admitted she was untruthful when she claimed a postal worker had confirmed Taylor was taking in packages for her ex-boyfriend who was convicted on drug charges, The Courier-Journal reported. But postal inspectors said there was nothing to prove Taylor was receiving packages for her ex-boyfriend.
Jaynes’ indictment also claims he and Goodlett met in his garage for the purpose of getting “on the same page” after a postal worker debunked the aforementioned claim.
Walker also filed the lawsuits against former LMPD officers Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison. Cosgrove fired 16 shots at Taylor during the raid. He was later terminated from his role after it was determined he did not identify a target. Hankison, on the other hand, has been federally charged with violating the federal rights of Taylor, Walker, and three of the deceased woman’s neighbors.
