The City of Louisville will pay Breonna Taylor’s family $12M in wrongful death lawsuit

The city of Louisville will pay $12 million to the family of Breonna Taylor as part of a lawsuit settlement.

As part of the settlement, they will also reform police practices, reports the Associated Press.

Why the Breonna Taylor lawsuit was filed

The lawsuit, filed in April by Breonna Taylor’s mother Tamika Palmer, alleged the police used flawed information when they obtained a “no-knock” warrant to enter the her daughter’s apartment in March.

Breonna Taylor was killed by police during a botched raid

Taylor and her boyfriend were awakened from bed by police.

Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, has said he fired once at the officers thinking it was an intruder.

Investigators say police were returning fire when they shot Taylor several times.

No drugs were found at her home.

“We won’t let Breonna Taylor’s life be swept under the rug,” said Ben Crump, an attorney for Taylor’s family, on Tuesday.

Crump said the $12 million settlement is the largest such settlement given out for a Black woman killed by police.

Charges against police officers involved

He also called for charges against the officers and urged people to “say her name,” a phrase that has become a refrain for those outraged by the shooting.

Palmer has said she is trying to be patient about the results of State’s General Attorney criminal investigation and the long wait, which is now six months since her daughter’s death.

Palmer’s lawsuit accused three Louisville police officers of blindly firing into Taylor’s apartment the night of the March raid, striking Taylor several times.

One of the officers, Jonathan Mattingly, went into the home after the door was broken down and was struck in the leg by the gunshot from Walker.

The warrant was one of five issued investigation of a drug trafficking suspect who was a former boyfriend of Taylor’s. That man, Jamarcus Glover, was arrested at a different location about 10 miles away from Taylor’s apartment on the same evening.

Breonna Taylor lawsuit settlement leads to some reform

The settlement includes reforms on how warrants are handled by police, reported the Associated Press.

The city has already taken some reform measures, including passing a law named for Taylor that bans the use of the no-knock warrants.

Mayor Fischer fired former police chief Steve Conrad in June and last week named Yvette Gentry, a former deputy chief, as the new interim police chief.

Gentry would be the first Black woman to lead the force.

The department has also fired Brett Hankison, one of the three officers who fired shots at Taylor’s apartment that night. Hankison is appealing the dismissal.