At least one of the officers who executed the raid on Breonna Taylor’s apartment was wearing a body camera, which is shown in newly released photos of officers taken shortly after the botched raid.
In the photos, a body camera can be seen on Officer Anthony James’ right shoulder and stand in stark contrast to statements made by former chief Steve Conrad and Mayor Greg Fischer, who claimed that no footage exists from the raid and that the officers in the narcotics unit that conducted the raid do not wear body cameras.
“I want to start by letting you all know that we have no body-worn video cameras to share with you from this morning’s shooting,” Conrad said in a press briefing following the shooting. “This incident was related to the execution of a search warrant by members of our Criminal Interdiction Division, and some of the officers assigned to this division do not wear body-worn video systems.”
Fischer has echoed Conrad’s statement, telling WDRB back in June that his “understanding is undercover narcotics agents do not use body cameras. And they didn’t have them during the execution of this search raid.”
The photos, obtained by Vice News, were among more than 1,200 photos taken by the Louisville Metro Police Department investigators following the raid that were included in Taylor’s boyfriend’s, Kenneth Walker’s, criminal case. Walker was charged with attempted murder of a police officer and assault for firing a warning shot when officers began banging on their door. Walker maintains that police never identified themselves and they thought their house was being broken into. The charges against Walker have since been dropped.
Walker’s attorney, Steve Romines, says that based on his knowledge of the case, officer James did not have his body camera turned on.
“That begs the question, you have it on your shoulder for that specific reason,” he said in an interview. “What possible excuse is there not to have it on?”
In the wake of the raid, Mayor Fischer announced that the department would require all officers to have body cameras when serving warrants.
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