One of the Kentucky police officers involved in the March 13 raid left Breonna Taylor dead has countersued Taylor’s boyfriend, alleging emotional distress, assault, and battery.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Seargent Jonathan Mattingly wrote in his lawsuit against Kenneth Walker, 26, that the single shot Walker fired that night was “outrageous, intolerable, and offends all accepted standards of decency or morality.” Police said Mattingly underwent a five-hour surgery after Walker shot him in his femoral artery.
Mattingly has requested a jury trial, in addition to compensatory and punitive damages.
“Sgt. Mattingly was shot and nearly killed by Kenneth Walker,” the officer’s lawyer said in a statement issued to the Courier-Journal. “He’s entitled to, and should, use the legal process to seek a remedy for the injury that Walker has caused him.”
Mattingly’s countersuit is in response to a lawsuit Walker filed in September against the city and Louisville police. Mayor Greg Fischer and Attorney General Daniel Cameron were also listed as defendants.
In his lawsuit, Walker requested prosecutorial immunity under the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law.
Louisville Metro police officer Brett Hankison was fired and charged with wanton endangerment for shots he allegedly fired into Taylor’s neighbor’s home — not for the shots that killed Taylor, 26. Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove were not charged and did not face any disciplinary action.
On March 13, Cosgrove, Hankison, and Mattingly reportedly shot and killed Taylor while executing a search warrant at her home. The warrant was one of five police issued as they investigated Taylor’s former boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover. Glover was found 10 miles from Taylor’s apartment the same night as her shooting death, according to multiple reports.
Louisville Metro police claimed the officers announced themselves and returned gunfire to Walker, who is reportedly a legal gun owner.
Walker claimed he believed the officers were intruders. Walker was initially charged with the attempted murder of a police officer and first-degree assault, but prosecutors dropped the charges due to a lack of evidence.
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[Featured image: Breonna Taylor, Kenneth Walker/GoFundMe]