The city of Louisville, Kentucky, is expected to announce a wrongful death settlement on Tuesday in the police killing of Breonna Taylor, the Louisville Courier Journal reports.
Police shot and killed Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, as they executed a no-knock warrant to the wrong house, sparking protests that demanded her killers be arrested. That hasn't happened, but Louisville is reportedly expected to grant Taylor's family the largest police misconduct settlement in its history — and police reforms are also part of the package.
It's unclear just how much the city will pay Taylor's family, "but it is expected to dwarf the biggest payout previously made by police," the Courier Journal writes. The previous largest settlement paid out $8.5 million to Edwin Chandler, who was wrongfully imprisoned for nine years. One of Taylor's attorneys confirmed to CBS affiliate WLKY the settlement would be announced soon.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
In addition to the payout, the settlement will require police commanders to approve all search warrants before they go to a judge, the Courier Journal reports. It will also reportedly move to provide housing credits to Louisville police officers who agree to live in the city instead of its suburbs, and allow for drug and alcohol testing of officers involved in any shooting.
Taylor was killed March 13, but the police killing of George Floyd and mass protests that followed in late May brought her story national attention. Police were supposed to be executing a warrant for someone located 10 miles away, and when they broke down the door of Taylor's boyfriend's home, he fired a shot that hit an officer in the leg. Police fired back, hitting Taylor five times. Taylor's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in April alleging the police were grossly negligent.
