Sam Aguiar, an attorney representing the family of Breonna Taylor, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, July 7, claiming that the Louisville, Kentucky, Metro Police Department may have given the public “misinformation” about whether body camera footage exists that recorded footage before and after the raid of Taylor’s home. The lawsuit was filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court and claims police are withholding public records that would show whether there is additional body camera footage that could shed more light about her death.
Taylor was fatally shot on March 13, 2020, when officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove burst through her door with a no-knock narcotics warrant wearing plain clothes. She and her boyfriend, Kenneth L. Walker, were sleep when police arrived and knocked down the door. All charges against Walker were dropped in March and no-knock warrants have been banned in Louisville as well. The officers fired a total of 32 shots into Taylor’s apartment.
Louisville Metro police previously stated that body camera footage of the shooting does not exist, as officers on the scene were not wearing the cameras or had them turned off. According to ABC News, the lawsuit filed by Taylor’s family attorney is requesting that a judge order the Louisville Metro Police Department to release body camera information under Kentucky’s Open Records Act.
“Breonna’s family has a right to the records. The public has a right to the records. I’m just tired of the administration playing their games when it comes to open records. No mother who lost a child should have to be lied to and deceived in the manner that this administration has done. So we’re going to rely upon the Court system here to try and put these games to rest,” Aguiar told ABC News in a statement.
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