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Lawyer representing Breonna Taylor’s family is suing the Louisville Metro Police Department over allegations authorities lied when they said there was no body camera footage from the night police raided in the apartment of the 26-year-old and fatally shot her.
In the lawsuit, filed in Jefferson County Court on Wednesday, attorney Sam Aguiar argued that Taylor’s family believe that “disinformation was presented to the general public regarding the use of body cameras” on March 13, 2020, when police executed a prohibition on knocking warrant. Taylor’s apartment as part of a drug investigation.
Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker opened fire on the police, later saying he believed the police were intruders. Police retaliated, hitting Taylor several times.
The three officers involved in the incident have not been charged in connection with Taylor’s death, although Brett Hankison was fired by the department in June 2020 and charged with three counts of gratuitous endangerment for bullets. who entered a neighboring apartment.
Police previously said body camera footage from the incident did not exist, explaining that some officers from the department who executed the warrant were not wearing body cameras and the cameras worn may not have been. activated at the time.
However, Aguiar argued in this week’s trial that one of the officers, Myles Cosgrove, was pictured wearing a camera harness on the evening of filming, although he said it did not contain any cameras. at the time.
Additionally, the attorney argued that the cameras used by officers in the department, known as Axon Flex 2 cameras, are designed to activate when the light bars of a police vehicle turn on.
Aguiar said in the court file that several police cars at Taylor’s apartment that evening had their light bars on at the time of the raid.
“Put simply, it would have been difficult for most of the LMPD members equipped with body cameras and who were associated with … events at Breonna … not to have activated their Axon body cameras at one point or another,” said he argued. .
Aguiar explained that the police department did not respond to requests for information about the body camera images.
“Complainants and the public have an uncompromising right to know whether undisclosed body camera images exist, or have ever existed, of LMPD Axon Cameras that relate to the events surrounding the death of Breonna Taylor,” he wrote , appealing to a judge. to demand that Louisville Police respond to their investigation.
The Louisville Police Department declined to comment on The Hill, saying it was not discussing pending litigation.
In September, the city of Louisville reached a $ 12 million settlement with Taylor’s family, the largest the city has ever paid in a police misconduct case.
The settlement also included specific promises of police reform, including advice on the execution of no-strike warrants.
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