Louisville city officials have agreed to a $12 million dollar settlement that will be paid to the family of Breonna Taylor, a young Black woman who was shot and killed by local law enforcement in her home early this year. According to the New York Times, the agreement was reached quickly in comparison to other cases of police shootings, which have often dragged on for years. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician was killed by white officers during what’s been largely labelled a “botched drug raid.” The officers rammed through her door to institute a search warrant at midnight on March 13 and proceeded to fire several shots into the house, five of which hit Taylor, while her boyfriend Kenneth Walker was led away in handcuffs.
The primary target for the midnight raid, according to reports, was Jamarcus Glover, a suspected drug dealer and ex-boyfriend of Taylor who had been under surveillance. Following her death, investigations revealed various inconsistencies and procedural failures on the part of law enforcement including the assumption that Taylor would be home alone, that she and Glover were still in a relationship, and that her residence was a local drug house. In an interview for the September edition of Vanity Fair, Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer recalled how she had run to her daughter’s house after receiving news of the raid, and for hours was given no information regarding Taylor’s location or physical condition. Only later would she realize that her daughter’s body had been inside the house while she was made to wait outside.
“As significant as today is, it’s only the beginning of getting full justice for Breonna,” Palmer said at a Tuesday news conference, according to the Associated Press. “We must not lose focus on what the real drive is and with that being said, it’s time to move forward with the criminal charges because she deserves that and much more.” An attorney for the family, Ben Crump, said: “We won’t let Breonna Taylor’s life be swept under the rug.” Crump also called for charges against the officers involved, a point echoed on social media.
The settlement is one of the highest ever paid in police killings and it also comes with the promise of policing reforms, including heightened scrutiny of search warrants and an early warning system to flag officers with disciplinary problems. According to documents obtained by the Times from Sam Aguiar, one of the family’s attorneys, officers will also be encouraged to perform two hours of paid community service each week and will receive housing credits to encourage them to live in the neighborhoods they police, in an attempt to improve relations with marginalized communities.
Settlements have become a painfully common part of the conversation surrounding police violence against Black people, even as substantive reform and accountability remain tenuous. In 2014, the city of Cleveland agreed to a settlement of $6 million dollars following the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice who was killed after police officers mistook his toy gun for a real one. In 2017, Minnesota paid $3 million dollars to the family of Philando Castile after he was shot the previous year, while in his car with his girlfriend and 4-year-old daughter. A $1.5 million settlement was also paid out following the death of Michael Brown who was killed in 2014, while a suggested $5 million amount for the shooting of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge was rejected by city officials. A wrongful death suit filed in the Sterling case is scheduled to go to trial next year.