The Lousiville Metro Police Officer shot by Kenneth Walker on the night of the deadly raid at Bronna Taylor’s apartment on March 13 sued Walker, Taylor’s boyfriend, for emotional distress, assault, and battery. Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly claims he experienced “severe trauma, mental anguish, and emotional distress” that night. Mattingly was one of three officers who entered Taylor’s apartment that morning to serve a warrant connected to a drug investigation.
After the three officers came into the apartment, Walker allegedly fired a shot that hit Mattingly in the leg. Walker said he thought the officers were intruders. The officers fired back, killing the 26-year-old Taylor, who had no criminal record. Police did not find drugs at the apartment. “Walker’s conduct in shooting Mattingly is outrageous, intolerable, and offends all accepted standards of decency and morality,” Mattingly’s civil lawsuit reads, reports CBS News.
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“Sgt. Mattingly was shot and nearly killed by Kenneth Walker. He’s entitled to, and should, use the legal process to seek a remedy for the injury that Walker has caused him,” Mattingly’s attorney, Kent Wicker, told WHAS11. Mattingly claims Walker intentionally shot Mattingly and was reckless when he fired his weapon, which he had a license to carry.
Walker said he fired in self-defense and did not know the intruders were police officers. He was charged with attempted murder, but the charges were dropped in May. He filed a lawsuit against Louisville police. His attorney, Steve Romines, called Mattingly’s lawsuit a “baseless attempt” to “victimize and harass” Walker. Romines said his client is “immune from both criminal prosecution and civil liability” since he was acting in self-defense.
“Even the most basic understanding of Kentucky‘s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law and the ‘Castle Doctrine’ evidences this fact,” Romines said in a statement to CBS News. “One would think that breaking into the apartment, executing his girlfriend, and framing him for a crime in an effort to cover up her murder would be enough for them. Yet this baseless attempt to further victimize and harass Kenny indicates otherwise.”
Taylor’s death inspired protests across the country against police brutality. On Thursday, Louisville residents held a “Say her name” march as organizers say justice still has not been served in the case. A grand jury declined to file charges against the three officers in Taylor’s death. Detective Brett Hankinson was charged with first-degree wanton endangerment, as some of the gunshots went into a neighboring apartment. Hankinson pleaded not guilty to the charge. Earlier this month, one of the grand jury members told CBS This Morning they were not given the option to consider indicting the officers with charges related to Taylor’s death.
