Louisville to Pay $2 Million to Breonna Taylor’s Boyfriend, Lawyer Says

The city of Louisville, Ky., has agreed to pay $2 million to settle lawsuits brought by the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was fatally shot by police officers in 2020 and whose death ignited nationwide protests against police brutality, according to one of his lawyers.

The settlement for the state and federal lawsuits came more than two years after Ms. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he mistook police officers for intruders as they rammed in the door of her apartment on the night of March 13 and executed a search warrant. Mr. Walker fired his shotgun, hitting an officer and setting off a response in which a torrent of bullets tore through Ms. Taylor’s apartment, striking her five times.

Mr. Walker’s lawsuits, which were filed in 2020 against the city and the officers involved in the botched raid, claimed that his rights had been violated when the officers failed to announce themselves before entering Ms. Taylor’s apartment and when they used excessive force.

A lawyer for Mr. Walker, Steve Romines, said by phone on Monday that “we’re glad the case is over because the time factor was going to take forever to get the case resolved.”

“We think the case has additional value,” he added. “But everybody was ready to get it over.”

The city of Louisville and its Police Department did not immediately respond to calls and emails seeking comment on Monday night.

Fury over the killing of Ms. Taylor fueled protests across the country as thousands questioned how the botched raid had unfolded and demanded accountability from the Police Department.

Mr. Walker, who shot a Louisville police officer in the leg when officers forced their way into Ms. Taylor’s home, had been charged with attempted murder, but prosecutors later dropped that charge.

Other settlements have been reached this year in cases involving Police Departments that used fatal force against civilians. In June, the city of Brooklyn Center, Minn., agreed to pay $3.2 million settlement to the family of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop in April 2021 near Minneapolis. Last month, the city of Atlanta agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the widow and the estate of Rayshard Brooks, a Black man who was fatally shot by a white police officer in 2020.

In September 2020, city officials agreed to pay Ms. Taylor’s family $12 million and to institute changes aimed at preventing future killings by officers, including implementing an early-warning system to flag officers who have been accused of excessive force and requiring more oversight by top commanders.

No officer has been charged with shooting Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician whose former boyfriend the police were investigating for possibly selling drugs. But on Aug. 4 the Justice Department charged four current and former police officers with federal civil rights violations, including lying to obtain a search warrant for her apartment.

One of the four, Joshua Jaynes, a former detective, pleaded not guilty. He was fired last year, The Courier-Journal reported.

Another of the four, Kelly Goodlett, a detective who retired after being charged, pleaded guilty at a hearing on Aug. 23. A third, Kyle Meany, was fired by the Louisville Police Department on Aug. 19.

A fourth officer facing the federal charges, Brett Hankison, was the only one to face a state charge in the raid. He was indicted on a count of wanton endangerment of neighbors whose apartment was hit when he fired without a clear line of sight into Ms. Taylor’s apartment. He was acquitted in the state case.