Breonna Taylor’s Boyfriend Files Lawsuit Over His Arrest On The Night She Was Killed by Police

Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, who was present during the botched police raid that killed Taylor, has filed a lawsuit over his arrest on the night of the deadly incident.

In the suit filed on Tuesday, Kenneth Walker cited the state’s “stand your ground” law to justify his decision to fire shots at officers on March 13 after they barged into Taylor’s home. Since the incident, Walker has maintained he was firing in self-defense, as he believed the officers, who were acting on a no-knock warrant, were intruders.

After the botched raid and subsequent shooting that left Taylor dead, Walker was arrested and charged with attempted murder of a police officer. The charges were later dropped, but according to CBS News, Walker’s legal team wants the court to make sure the charges will not be filed again.

“The charges brought against me were meant to silence me and cover-up Breonna’s murder,” Walker explained in a news conference on Tuesday. “For her and those that I love, I can no longer remain silent.”

However, according to the publication, Walker’s self-defense argument is just a small portion of a larger lawsuit he filed against Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Louisville Metro government, Mayor Greg Fischer, 13 officers, former Chief Steve Conrad, and interim Chief Rob Schroeder.

In the lawsuit, Walker accuses the Louisville Metro Police Department of threatening him, illegally detaining him, and interrogating him under false pretenses. He also said the department “ignored his account as corroborated by neighbors and arrested and jailed” him.

While officers claimed they knocked and announced their presence, while executing a no-knock warrant, prior to entering the home in a search for illegal drugs, Walker said they never identified themselves.

“It scared me when the door got kicked like that. So that was my only reaction was to do that. I’m trying to protect her, like, she doesn’t have a gun,” Waker explained to investigators, according to WLKY. Officers fired shots in return, killing Taylor.

But according to Walker’s lawyers and his suit, his actions are protected under the “stand your ground” law, which allows “all Kentuckians who seek to protect themselves or loved ones in self-defense.”

“The bottom line is this,” attorney Steven Romines said. “On that night, Kenny Walker was 27-years-old. Kenny had never been in trouble in his life. And the police want you to believe that at almost 1 o’clock one evening, he says, ‘My first foray into the criminal justice world, I’m gonna try to shoot a cop.’ It’s a ridiculous position.”

The incident is still under investigation by the FBI and AG Cameron, who revealed in Sunday that he received ballistic reports that “will help us in the analysis that needs to be undertaken before we can get to the final steps.”

But Romines believes the reports will show that the officer who was shot at the scene was struck by his fellow officer, not Walker.

“We think it is much more likely that one of the 35 to 45 shots fired by LMPD is what struck Officer Mattingly, especially based on the fact that it was not reported that he was shot until a minute and a half until after the raid began,” Romines said.

None of the officers involved have been charged, and only one, Brett Hankison, has been fired.