布莱娜·泰勒的男友肯尼斯·沃克(Kenneth Walker)已对路易斯维尔市警察局和参与这起致命枪击案的官员提起联邦诉讼。
周五，多家律师事务所在美国肯塔基州西区地方法院共同提起诉讼，指控LMPD侵犯了他的宪法权利。
该诉讼称，LMPD在突袭中的行为侵犯了沃克的第四修正案权利，该修正案禁止不合理的搜查和扣押。
“这是一场非常重要的诉讼，旨在维护肯尼斯·沃克在美国宪法下的宪法权利，”在诉讼中代表沃克的乔治敦大学法律中心教授克利夫·斯隆(Cliff Sloan)对美国广播公司(ABC News)表示。“我们正在寻求确保警方对肯尼斯·沃克(Kenneth Walker)的悲惨和不公正的袭击以及布莱娜·泰勒(Breonna Taylor)的遇害进行公正和问责。”
韦利西亚·沃克
布莱娜·泰勒和肯尼斯·沃克在一张未注明日期的全家福照片中拥抱在一起。
诉讼是在泰勒逝世周年纪念。
2020年3月13日，LMPD便衣警察迈尔斯·科斯格罗维、布雷特·汉克森和乔纳森·马丁利中士在泰勒和沃克居住的肯塔基州路易斯维尔的公寓执行了不敲门搜查令。官员们声称泰勒的前男友正把毒品运送到这个地址。
这对夫妇睡觉时，警察破门而入。持照持枪者沃克说，他认为有人闯入并开枪击中了马蒂利的腿。警察带着一连串的子弹回来，击中并杀死了26岁的医务工作者泰勒。
诉状中提到了路易斯维尔和杰弗逊县政府以及官员汉克森、科斯格罗维和马丁利。
诉状进一步指责LMPD“默许过度使用武力”，未能“充分训练其官员使用合理(而非过度)的武力”
“虽然沃克先生没有犯罪，但现场的警察把他拘留了。被告汉克森告诉沃克先生，他将“在监狱里度过他的余生”，该诉状由美国广播公司新闻获得。
该诉讼称，突袭导致沃克遭受“精神痛苦、情绪困扰、创伤、羞辱、尴尬和名誉损害”。沃克正在寻求补偿性和惩罚性赔偿。
路易斯维尔市警察局
乔纳森·马蒂利中士，中尉。迈尔斯·科斯格罗维和黛特。布雷特·汉克森摄于路易斯维尔
LMPD告诉美国广播公司新闻，该部门不对未决诉讼发表评论，但该部门为这些官员辩护说，他们在事件中敲了泰勒的门并宣布了自己的身份。沃克说，他听到有人敲门，但当他问是谁时，他们没有听到警方的回应。
9月，马蒂利在给1000多名同事的电子邮件中为自己的行为辩护说，“我知道那天晚上我们做了法律、道德和伦理方面的事情。好人怎么被妖魔化了，罪犯怎么被册封了，真是悲哀。”
在一个专访美国广播公司新闻和路易斯维尔快递杂志10月，马丁利对泰勒的死表示同情，他说，“这是悲剧。太恐怖了。”当被问及他会怎么做时，他说他会冲进泰勒的住所，而不给她时间回答，并声称如果是这样的话，枪击就不会发生。
沃克被指控在突袭中企图谋杀一名警察。他说他开枪是为了自卫。指控是本周放弃。
去年，沃克提交了一份正在进行的州法院诉讼在杰弗逊巡回法院反对城市和LMPD。
该诉讼称，根据肯塔基州的“坚持你的立场”法律，沃克应免于刑事起诉，该法律“保护所有寻求自卫保护自己或亲人的肯塔基州人”。
泰勒的死引发了谴责种族主义和警察暴行的全国抗议。到目前为止，没有一名参与袭击的官员因她的死亡而受到指控。
Breonna Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker files federal lawsuit against Louisville police
Kenneth Walker, the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Louisville Metro Police Department and the officers involved in the deadly shooting.
The suit, filed together by multiple law firms Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, accused the LMPD of violating his constitutional rights.
The lawsuit said LMPD's actions in the raid violated Walker's Fourth Amendment rights, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.
"This is a very important lawsuit to vindicate Kenneth Walker's constitutional rights under the U.S. Constitution," Cliff Sloan, a Georgetown University Law Center professor representing Walker in the suit, told ABC News. "We are seeking to ensure that there is justice and accountability for the tragic and unjustified police assault on Kenneth Walker and killing of Breonna Taylor."
The lawsuit was filed one day before theanniversary of Taylor's death.
On March 13, 2020, plainclothes LMPD officers Myles Cosgrove, Brett Hankison and Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, executed a no-knock warrant at the apartment where Taylor and Walker were living in Louisville, Kentucky. The officers contended that Taylor's ex-boyfriend was shipping drugs to the address.
The officers broke through the door as the couple was sleeping. Walker, a licensed gun holder, said he thought someone was breaking in and fired a single shot that hit Mattingly in the leg. The officers returned with a fusillade of bullets that struck and killed Taylor, a 26-year-old medical worker.
The complaint names the Louisville and Jefferson County Metro government and officers Hankison, Cosgrove and Mattingly.
The complaint further accused the LMPD of "tacitly approving excessive use of force" in failing to "adequately train its officers in using reasonable (and not excessive) force."
"Although Mr. Walker had committed no crime, officers on the scene took him into custody. Defendant Hankison told Mr. Walker that he was 'going to jail for the rest of [his] life,'" the complaint, obtained by ABC News, stated.
The raid led Walker to suffer "mental anguish, emotional distress, trauma, humiliation, embarrassment, and reputational harm," the suit said. Walker is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
The LMPD told ABC News the department does not comment on pending litigation but the department has defended the officers saying they knocked and announced themselves at Taylor’s door in the incident. Walker said he heard banging at the door but when he asked who it was, they did not hear the police respond, per the lawsuit.
In September, Mattingly defended his actions in an e-mail to more than 1,000 of his colleagues saying, “I know we did the legal, moral and ethical thing that night. It’s sad how the good guys are demonized, and the criminals are canonized.”
In anexclusive interviewwith ABC News andLouisville's Courier Journalin October, Mattingly offered empathy for Taylor’s death, saying, “It was tragic. It's horrible.” When asked what he would do differently he said he would've stormed Taylor's residence without giving her time to answer, claiming the shooting wouldn't have happened if that were the case.
Walker was charged with attempted murder of a police officer in the raid. He said he fired in self-defense. The charge wasdropped this week.
Last year, Walker filed anongoing state court lawsuitin Jefferson Circuit Court against the city and the LMPD.
That suit claimed Walker should be exempt from criminal prosecution under Kentucky's "Stand Your Ground" law which "protects all Kentuckians who seek to protect themselves or loved ones in self-defense," according to the suit.
Taylor's death sparked national protests decrying racism and police brutality. To this day, none of the officers involved in the raid have been charged in her death.
