Breonna Taylor's family has filed new court documents claiming that the 26-year-old EMT was still alive after she was shot by Louisville police officers, but she did not receive any medical assistance as she bled out in her apartment. The New York Times reports that the 31-page complaint indicates that Breonna lay dying for up to six minutes after she was shot in the early hours of March 13th.
These new court documents serve to amend a lawsuit against the three officers, Jonathan Mattingly, Myles Cosgrove, and the since-fired Brett Hankison, involved in her death, and presents a new narrative on what exactly transpired the night that they killed Breonna. While both sides have settled on the fact that they did, in fact, knock before entering her apartment, they disagree on whether or not the officers identified themselves, with Breonna's family claiming they did not. This is what led Breonna's boyfriend Kenneth Walker to shoot at the presumed intruders, hitting one of the officers in the leg. They responded by firing shot after shot, hitting Breonna five times.
“In the six minutes that elapsed from the time Breonna was shot, to the time she died, we have no evidence suggesting that any officer made entry in an attempt to check and assist her,” Sam Aguiar, the family’s lawyer, stated. “She suffered.” State officials challenged these claims.
Dr. Barbara Weakley-Jones, the coroner who performed Breonna's autopsy, told NYT that the time of death on Breonna's death certificate is "an estimate" as she likely died in "less than a minute." Dr. Weakley-Jones insisted that her injuries were too fatal for her to have recovered. “Even if it had happened outside of an ER we couldn’t have saved her,” she said.
The complaint also lists a number of other police violations committed in the case that ultimately led to her death, such as relying on old intelligence and not having an ambulance on standby while they carried out the raid. "We won't be satisfied until rightful charges are brought against...everyone responsible for Breonna's death," Aguiar said.
Rest in power, Breonna Taylor.
