The family of Breonna Taylor alleged in court documents that Louisville police officers failed to provide her with medical attention after she briefly survived being shot eight times.
In a 31-page complaint, Taylor’s family claimed that officers did not provide her with medical attention even though she was alive for at least six minutes after the shooting took place. The family accused the officers of being “reckless” and not caring about Taylor’s life because she was a black woman. Sam Aguiar, an attorney for the family, told the New York Times that Taylor “suffered” without medical attention before she died.
“In the six minutes that elapsed from the time Breonna was shot, to the time she died, we have no evidence suggesting that any officer made entry in an attempt to check and assist her,” Aguiar said. “She suffered.”
Taylor was shot eight times after officers broke into her home in Louisville, Kentucky, in March while carrying out a no-knock warrant to search for drugs. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said the officers knocked but did not identify themselves as police officers. He believed it was a home invasion and fired a warning shot, hitting one of the officers. The officers fired back, hitting and killing Taylor. No drugs were found in the home.
The Louisville coroner’s office said that the officers would not have been able to help Taylor. Dr. Barbara Weakley-Jones called Aguiar’s claims about police failing to provide care for Taylor a “gross mischaracterization,” adding, “even if it had happened outside of an ER we couldn’t have saved her.”
Officials from the state alleged that they did not immediately know that Taylor had been injured because it was dark and they were prioritizing care for the officer who had been shot by Walker’s warning shot.
In addition to the claims about Taylor’s suffering, Aguiar alleged that the warrant used to enter Taylor’s home was part of a larger conspiracy to remove Jamarcus Glover, an ex-boyfriend of Taylor’s who appeared on the warrant, from his home to allow new businesses to take over the area of town in a ploy to gentrify the neighborhood.
The warrant to search Taylor’s apartment was based on her interactions with Glover. Authorities claimed that Taylor had received mail for Glover and that his home was a “known drug house.” Aguiar told the Courier-Journal that Taylor’s home should never have been raided and that Glover was only targeted because his home was preventing a real estate development from moving into the area.
“Breonna’s home should never have had police there in the first place,” Aguiar said. “When the layers are peeled back, the origin of Breonna’s home being raided by police starts with a political need to clear out a street for a large real estate development project and finishes with a newly formed, rogue police unit violating all levels of policy, protocol, and policing standards.”
When police searched Glover’s home, they found drugs and eight guns and arrested him. Shortly after his arrest, the city of Louisville and Jefferson County Landbank Authority moved to purchase the home for $1. The property was valued at more than $17,000. Eight homes on the street where Glover lived were demolished within a few weeks earlier this year.
Jean Porter, a spokeswoman for Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, called the allegations that Glover was included on the warrant because of the city’s real estate endeavors “outrageous.”
“They are insulting to the neighborhood members of the Vision Russell initiative and all the people involved in the years of work being done to revitalize the neighborhoods of west Louisville,” Porter said.
“The Mayor is absolutely committed to that work, as evidenced by the city’s work to support $1 billion in capital projects there over the past few years, including a new YMCA, the city’s foundational $10 million grant to the Louisville Urban League’s Sports and Learning Complex, the Cedar Street housing development, new businesses, down payment homeownership assistance, and of course, the remaking of the large Beecher Terrace initiative,” she added.
Taylor’s death has triggered protests throughout the country, along with the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after an officer knelt on his neck for several minutes during an arrest.
Brett Hankison, one of the four officers who was involved in Taylor’s death, was fired by the Louisville Police Department. His attorney has filed an appeal on the firing decision and accused the department of making a premature decision. Taylor’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the department.
