The man who was with Breonna Taylor on the night she was killed by Louisville, KY police officers has settled two lawsuits he filed against the city.
According to The Associated Press, Kenneth Walker, the boyfriend of the EMT worker who was killed after police officers erroneously targeted her apartment in search of illegal drugs, has been awarded $2 million by the city of Louisville.
Taylor’s attorney, Steve Romines
, said in a written statement that Taylor’s death “will haunt Kenny for the rest of his life.“He will live with the effects of being put in harm’s way due to a falsified warrant, to being a victim of a hailstorm of gunfire and to suffering the unimaginable and horrific death of Breonna Taylor.”
Initially, Walker was charged with the attempted murder of a
police officer, but the charges were dismissed. He explained to investigators that he had no clue that the men who burst into Taylor’s apartment were police officers, and he was defending against who he thought were thieves attempting to break into the apartment that night.The attorneys for Walker said on Monday that part of the $2 million settlement would go towards setting up a scholarship fund for law students who have an interest in practicing civil rights law. He also plans to make a contribution to the Center for Innovations in Community Safety, ] a police and community reform center at Georgetown Law School.
In September 2020, the city of Louisville agreed to pay Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, a $12 million settlement.
Taylor was tragically killed after police officers forcefully entered Taylor’s apartment on a no-knock warrant while she and her boyfriend, Walker, were in bed sleeping. Walker, who is a licensed gun owner, maintains that plainclothes officers entered their home unannounced and that he called the police and fired a warning shot in self-defense, thinking they were intruders. As a result, one of the officers was shot in the leg. The cops responded with a hail of bullets that killed Taylor.