City of Louisville
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City of Louisville To Pay Millions To Breonna Taylor’s Mother, Reform Police

Phyllis Coley @phyllis_coley
Breonna
Breonna Taylor

Louisville, KY – The city of Louisville announced on Tuesday (Sept. 15) that it has reached a settlement agreement with the family of Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old Black woman whose death during a police raid became a driving symbol of the Black Lives Matter movement, an attorney for the family confirmed to The Washington Post.

The city of Louisville will pay $12 million to the mother of Breonna Taylor and install police reforms as part of a settlement of a lawsuit from Taylor’s family, The Associated Press has learned.

The settlement would be the largest sum paid by the city for a police misconduct case, according to a person who has seen the settlement. The largest settlement previously paid in a misconduct case was $8.5 million in 2012, to a man who spent nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit, according to news reports.

The settlement will not impact the ongoing investigation by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) into whether the officers who raided Taylor’s apartment should face criminal charges stemming from her death. The U.S. Justice Department is also investigating the case.

The settlement will include reforms on how warrants are handled by police. The city of Louisville is expected to announce the details Tuesday afternoon.

The lawsuit, filed in April by Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, alleged the police used flawed information when they obtained a “no-knock” warrant to enter the Black woman’s apartment in March. 

Taylor was killed March 13, when plainclothes police officers carried out a “no-knock” search warrant at her home shortly after midnight as part of a drug investigation. Taylor was asleep at the time, according to a family lawsuit.

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Breonna Taylor & Kenneth Walker

Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, 27, who was also at the apartment, fired a shot with a gun he legally owned and later said he thought the officers were intruders. The officers shot back, and Taylor was struck five times.

The officers said they identified themselves before forcing in the door to Taylor’s apartment with a battering ram, but Taylor’s family disputes that claim in the lawsuit. Police did not find drugs at the home.
 
Although Walker was initially charged with the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, the charges were dropped. Louisville has since banned the use of no-knock warrants.