Charges against Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker for allegedly shooting and wounding a police officer last year have been permanently dropped after a Monday ruling. Walker cannot be re-charged for the crimes after Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Olu Stevens ruled the charges would be dismissed with prejudice.
Walker—who told Gayle King in October about his experience in the clip above—was initially arrested and charged with assault and attempted murder after shooting Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly of the Louisville Metro Police in the thigh on March 13, 2020. Police entered Taylor’s apartment with a search warrant just before 1 a.m. and fatally shot her during the botched raid. None of the three white officers who fired in the home at Taylor—Mattingly, Detective Myles Cosgrove, and Detective Brett Hankison—were charged by a grand jury in relation to her death.
During the raid, officers were looking for an ex-boyfriend of Taylor’s and entered the apartment in search of illegal drugs. Taylor was a 26-year-old emergency medical technician when she was killed and had no criminal record.
Walker maintained he was unaware police were at the door and thought intruders were breaking in. The charges against Walker were dropped without prejudice last May, which meant he could face those charges again. At the time, Jefferson Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine called for further investigation to see if Walker should be re-charged. That is officially no longer a possibility.
Last week, prosecutors moved to dismiss the charges, saying investigations “have concluded and no new information relevant to the charges against [Walker] in this matter has been brought to the Commonwealth’s attention.”
Walker’s attorney Steve Romines said prosecutors have finally acknowledged that he acted in self defense. “He looks forward to continuing the fight to hold the real wrongdoers accountable for the harm that they’ve caused,” Romines told CBS News in a statement. “Both he, individually, and our community, as a whole, cannot begin the process of healing until that happens.”
Walker sued the city of Louisville and LMPD in September, seeking immunity and alleging he was the victim of police misconduct, but Stevens denied a motion to grant immunity. Walker faces a counterclaim from Mattingly.
