Breonna Taylor's neighbors 'working actively' with city to settle lawsuit stemming from March 13 raid, lawyer says

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Former neighbors of Breonna Taylor are in negotiations with city officials to settle a lawsuit they filed against the Louisville Metro Police officers who fired their weapons during the March 13 raid on Taylor's apartment.

Attorney Brandon Lawrence told WDRB News on Wednesday that he and his clients, Chelsey Napper and Cody Etherton, have "made a demand" and are "working actively with the city to bring (the lawsuit) to a resolution."

Lawrence did not say how much money he and his clients are asking for in the settlement.

"Honestly, no amount of money can fully compensate for what they've been through, but we do hope to achieve a resolution," Lawrence told WDRB News.

Former LMPD Detective Brett Hankison has been charged with three felony counts of wanton endangerment for shooting into a nearby apartment during the raid on Taylor's home in March. Circuit Judge Annie O'Connell said Wednesday that one of those neighbors was Napper, who along with her longtime boyfriend Etherton in May filed a lawsuit in May claiming the officers "blindly fired" shots into their apartment "with a total disregard for the value of human life."

Lawrence said he and his clients are "extremely pleased" that Hankison "is being held accountable for his irresponsible action" and that they "emphasize and sympathize with Tamika Palmer and the family of Breonna Taylor and of course join with folks in the pursuit of justice for Breonna Taylor."

Napper, who was pregnant at the time, was asleep in her Springfield Drive apartment with Etherton and a child when the officers executed a search warrant on Taylor's apartment, according to the lawsuit, which claims the officers "failed to use any sound reasonable judgment whatsoever" during the raid.

"Something’s going on next door, and there is bullet holes all the way through the wall, through our glass," Napper told a 911 dispatcher on March 13. "My boyfriend tried to open the door, and they’re out there – the cops are out there yelling to get back in the house.

"... I understand there’s something going on, but I have a 5-year-old in here so something needs to be explained to me," she added.

Napper and Etherton’s suit claims a bullet fired by the officers "flew inches past Cody Etherton’s head while he was in the hallway" of Napper's apartment.

"It was a harrowing experience," Lawrence told WDRB News. "The last thing you expect, in the middle of the night, is for bullets to be flying through your apartment."

Another woman living in the apartment complex told a dispatcher that she heard police fire multiple shots before someone yelled "reload."

"I got my grand baby and my kids in here. I don't know what they doing," the woman said. "My kids said they heard them arguing. I told them to get down. They shot about nine shots and somebody just hollered reload."

Hankison was assigned a $15,000 cash bond and a warrant for his arrest. He was charged with firing a neighboring unit, showing "extreme indifference to human life" for three people inside, the grand jury concluded. Each charge of wanton endangerment against Hankison carries a prison sentence of one to five years, if convicted.

Neither Hankison nor the two other officers who fired their weapons — Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Det. Myles Cosgrove — were indicted in connection with Taylor's death. Cosgrove fired the shot that killed Taylor, according to FBI ballistics findings released by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

Cameron, however, said that his office and the grand jury both agreed that Mattingly and Cosgrove were "justified" in returning a shot fired first by Kenneth Walker, Taylor's boyfriend. Walker, who was standing in the apartment's hallway, has said he believed police were intruders breaking into the apartment.

Napper and Etherton have moved from their Springfield Drive apartment, according to Lawrence, who said he and his clients aren't happy with the lack of charges brought against officers in Taylor's death.

"They've got a concern about what went on that night and how justice is being administered," Lawrence said. "They're very concerned about it and not happy at all that it doesn't seem that justice was achieved on behalf on Breonna Taylor, but they are pleased that at least one of the officers is going to have to answer for his irresponsible actions that night."

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