National civil rights attorney Ben Crump to represent family of Breonna Taylor, EMT killed in police raid

Nationally renowned civil rights attorney and personal injury lawyer Ben Crump, along with co-counsels Sam Aguiar and Lonita Baker, have been retained by the family of Breonna Taylor, an award-winning EMT killed in a raid by Louisville Police on March 13.

Ben Crump retained as lawyers

26-year-old Taylor and her boyfriend 27-year-old Kenneth Walker were asleep in their apartment when Louisville Police burst into the home without warning, shooting her eight times, killing her. 

Attorney Crump has issued the following statement in response:

“We stand with the family of this young woman in demanding answers from the Louisville Police Department. Despite the tragic circumstances surrounding her death, the Department has not provided any answers regarding the facts and circumstances of how this tragedy occurred, nor have they taken responsibility for her senseless killing.”

“Breonna should still be alive”

Police say they were serving a search warrant on Taylor’s boyfriend for a narcotics investigation. Authorities allege when they entered the home, they were met with gunshots and returned fire, killing Breonna, reports WSH11.

However, Rob Eggert, a defense attorney for Taylor’s boyfriend, said police burst in Taylor’s home without announcing their presence and fired at least 22 times, with bullets going into neighboring apartments, and “it was incredible that Mrs. Taylor was the only one killed.”

“Had Breonna Taylor been killed by anyone except police, the person or persons responsible for her death would have been charged with a homicide,” Eggert said in a court document, also alleging Walker is a “victim of police misconduct.”

“While police may claim to have identified themselves, they did not,” Eggert wrote in the motion.

“Mr. Walker and Ms. Taylor again heard a large bang on the door. Again, when they inquired there was no response that there was police outside. At this point, the door suddenly explodes. Counsel believes that police hit the door with a battering ram.”

Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend 

Walker fired one round in self-defense, but officers “failed to use any sound reasonable judgment” and fired “more than 25 blind shots into multiple homes,” Eggert added. 

Walker is accused of shooting Sgt. Mattingly in the leg, but Eggert claims he did not know he was shooting at police, according to a motion filed in court. He was charged with attempted murder for the shooting, WDRB reported. 

Eggert maintains that neither Taylor nor Walker was not the target of the investigation and if Walker had known police were outside, he would have let them in, Eggert said in the motion.

He wrote that Walker “wishes to exonerate himself. His girlfriend was killed in a hail of police bullets while naked and he himself simply acted to try to protect himself.”

Police have said there is no body camera footage of the shooting because the officers involved were members of the department’s Criminal Interdiction division, who do not wear body cameras.

The officers involved in the shooting, including Det. Myles Cosgrove and Det. Brent Hankison, have been placed on administrative reassignment.