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City of Louisville Agrees to Record-Breaking $12 Million Settlement Over Killing of Breonna Taylor

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3 years ago

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  • Lawyers for the family Breonna Taylor reached a $12 million settlement with the City of Louisville in a wrongful death lawsuit. The payout is the largest Louisville has ever agreed to in a police misconduct suit.
  • Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT, was shot and killed in March after police forcibly entered her apartment to serve a warrant, firing numerous rounds.
  • In addition to the payout to Taylor’s family, the settlement also included several police reforms, like adding social workers to the police force, requiring commanding officers to review all search warrants, and creating an early warning system to identify red flag officers.
  • While Taylor’s family and their lawyers applauded the settlement, they also said it was just the first step in getting justice and called for criminal charges to be filed against the three officers involved in Taylor’s death.

Breonna Taylor

Lawyers for the family of Breonna Taylor confirmed Tuesday that the City of Louisville had reached a historic $12 million settlement in a wrongful death suit brought by Taylor’s family.

Taylor was the 26-year-old woman who was shot and killed in her apartment by police serving a warrant earlier this year. The incident occurred just after midnight on March 13 when three Louisville Metro Police officers entered her apartment by force with a battering ram and fired multiple rounds. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said they were in bed when they heard someone pounding on their door. 

Walker claimed both he and Taylor repeatedly asked who was at the door, but the police failed to announce themselves. Believing the police to be an intruder, Walker fired, striking one of the officers in the leg. Police responded by firing several shots, hitting Taylor five times. One of the officers, Detective Brett Hankison, fired 10 shots blindly into the room.

The warrant officers were serving pertained to a narcotics investigation that involved two men who police believed were selling drugs out of a house 10 miles away. A judge had signed a warrant allowing officers to search Taylor’s apartment because police said they believed one of the men — who was an ex-boyfriend of hers — was using her apartment to receive packages.

Neither Taylor nor Walker had any prior drug arrests or convictions, and no drugs were found in the apartment.

While it was initially reported that police had a no-knock warrant — meaning they did not have to knock or announce themselves before entering — officials have since said that the orders were changed before the raid to “knock and announce,” which means police were in fact required to identify themselves.

Notably, police have said they knocked several times and announced themselves as officers with a warrant before they broke down the door, but their account has been heavily disputed. Taylor’s family, Walker, and multiple neighbors have all said police did not say who they were or that they were serving a warrant. 

Many others have also pointed to the fact that the police’s incident report had multiple errors. For instance, it listed Breonna’s injuries as “none” despite the fact that she was killed after being shot five times. It also claimed that officers did not force their way into the apartment, even though they used a battering ram. 

Taylor’s family filed the wrongful death lawsuit in April

Lawsuit and Settlement

The $12 million settlement for that suit was announced by Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer in a joint press conference with Taylor’s family and their lawyers on Tuesday. It is by far the largest amount ever paid by Louisville police in a police misconduct suit.

According to Ben Crump, one of the lawyers for Taylor’s family who spoke at the press conference, it is also the largest settlement ever paid out for a Black woman killed in a police-involved wrongful death suit and one of the largest amounts for any Black person killed in a police shooting in America.

In addition to that historic payment Mayor Fischer also announced that the city was enacting a number of police reforms as part of the settlement.

Among other measures, those reforms included:

  • Creating a program to include social workers in LMPD to provide assistance on certain police runs.
  • Requiring commanding officers to review all search warrants and other documents connected to them before an officer gets approval from a judge on them.
  • Implementing an early warning system that tracks all use of force incidents, citizen complaints, investigations, and other factors to identify officers with red flags.
  • Creating a housing credit program to incentivize officers to live in certain low-income areas of the city as well as encouraging officers to perform two paid hours a week of community service to better connect police with the communities they serve.

The First Step

While both the settlement and the reforms were applauded by Taylor’s family and their lawyers, they also emphasized that these are just the first step.

Currently, none of the officers involved are facing criminal charges, but investigations by both the Kentucky attorney general and the Federal Bureau of Investigations are underway.

Two of the officers, Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly and Officer Myles Cosgrove, have been placed on administrative leave, and Detective Hankinson was fired in June. Hankison has reportedly appealed his firing, but the case was delayed until the criminal investigation is complete.

City officials have also made some changes, including banning no-knock warrants, as well as requiring all officers serving warrants to wear body cameras and other changes to the police department aimed at ensuring accountability and transparency.

However, many have called for more to be done, including Taylor’s family, who for months have been pushing for criminal charges against the officers.

“As significant as today is, it’s only the beginning of getting full justice for Breonna,” Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer said during Tuesday’s briefing.

“And with that being said, it’s time to move forward with the criminal charges because she deserves that and much more. Her beautiful spirit and personality is working with all of us on the ground, so please continue to say her name.”

Crump also echoed that sentiment, calling for the officers to be charged “immediately.”

“We want, at minimum, 2nd degree manslaughter charges,” he said. “We want full justice for Breonna Taylor. Not just partial justice.”

According to reports, a grand jury may hear the criminal case as soon as this week.

See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (The Associated Press) (The Louisville Courier-Journal)

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U.S.

White Supremacist Propaganda Reached Record High in 2022, ADL Finds

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2 weeks ago

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March 9, 2023

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 “We cannot sit idly by as these extremists pollute our communities with their hateful trash,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said.

White supremacist propaganda in the U.S. reached record levels in 2022, according to a report published Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League’s Center of Extremism.

The ADL found over 6,700 cases of white supremacist propaganda in 2022, which marks a 38% jump from the nearly 4,900 cases the group found in 2021. It also represents the highest number of incidents ever recorded by the ADL. 

The propaganda tallied by the anti-hate organization includes the distribution of racist, antisemitic, and homophobic flyers, banners, graffiti, and more. This propaganda has spread substantially since 2018, when the ADL found just over 1,200 incidents. 

“There’s no question that white supremacists and antisemites are trying to terrorize and harass Americans with their propaganda,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “We cannot sit idly by as these extremists pollute our communities with their hateful trash.” 

The report found that there were at least 50 white supremacist groups behind the spread of propaganda in 2022, but 93% of it came from just three groups. One of those groups was also responsible for 43% of the white supremacist events that took place last year. 

White supremacist events saw a startling uptick of their own, with the ADL documenting at least 167, a 55% jump from 2021. 

Propaganda was found in every U.S. state except for Hawaii, and events were documented in 33 states, most heavily in Massachusetts, California, Ohio, and Florida.

“The sheer volume of white supremacist propaganda distributions we are documenting around the country is alarming and dangerous,” Oren Segal, Vice President of the ADL’s Center on Extremism said in a statement. “Hardly a day goes by without communities being targeted by these coordinated, hateful actions, which are designed to sow anxiety and create fear.”

“We need a whole-of-society approach to combat this activity, including elected officials, community leaders, and people of good faith coming together and condemning this activity forcefully,” Segal continued. 

See what others are saying: (Axios) (The Hill) (The New York Times)

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Adidas Financial Woes Continue, Company on Track for First Annual Loss in Decades

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2 weeks ago

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March 8, 2023

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Adidas has labeled 2023 a “transition year” for the company. 

Yeezy Surplus 

Adidas’ split with musician Kanye West has left the company with financial problems due to surplus Yeezy products, putting the sportswear giant in the position to potentially suffer its first annual loss in over 30 years. 

Adidas dropped West last year after he made a series of antisemitic remarks on social media and other broadcasts. His Yeezy line was a staple for Adidas, and the surplus product is due, in part, to the brand’s own decision to continue production during the split.

According to CEO Bjorn Gulden, Adidas continued production of only the items already in the pipeline to prevent thousands of people from losing their jobs. However, that has led to the unfortunate overabundance of Yeezy sneakers and clothes. 

On Wednesday, Gulden said that selling the shoes and donating the proceeds makes more sense than giving them away due to the Yeezy resale market — which has reportedly shot up 30% since October.

“If we sell it, I promise that the people who have been hurt by this will also get something good out of this,” Gulden said in a statement to the press. 

However, Gulden also said that West is entitled to a portion of the proceeds of the sale of Yeezys per his royalty agreement.

The Numbers 

Adidas announced in February that, following its divergence from West, it is facing potential sales losses totaling around $1.2 billion and profit losses of around $500 million. 

If it decides to not sell any more Yeezy products, Adidas is facing a projected annual loss of over $700 million.

Outside of West, Adidas has taken several heavy profit blows recently. Its operating profit reportedly fell by 66% last year, a total of more than $700 million. It also pulled out of Russia after the country’s invasion of Ukraine last year, which cost Adidas nearly $60 million dollars. Additionally, China’s “Zero Covid” lockdowns last year caused in part a 36% drop in revenue for Adidas compared to years prior.

As a step towards a solution, Gulden announced that the company is slashing its dividends from 3.30 euros to 0.70 euro cents per share pending shareholder approval. 

Adidas has labeled 2023 a “transition year” for the company. 

“Adidas has all the ingredients to be successful. But we need to put our focus back on our core: product, consumers, retail partners, and athletes,” Gulden said. “I am convinced that over time we will make Adidas shine again. But we need some time.”

See what others are saying: (The Washington Post) (The New York Times) (CNN)

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U.S.

Immigration Could Be A Solution to Nursing Home Labor Shortages

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2 weeks ago

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March 7, 2023

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98% of nursing homes in the United States are experiencing difficulty hiring staff. 

The Labor Crisis 

A recent National Bureau of Economic Research paper has offered up a solution to the nursing home labor shortage: immigration. 

According to a 2022 American Health Care Association survey, six in ten nursing homes are limiting new patients due to staffing issues. The survey also says that 87% of nursing homes have staffing shortages and 98% are experiencing difficulty hiring. 

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) outlined in their paper that increased immigration could help solve the labor shortage in nursing homes. Immigrants make up 19% of nursing home workers.

With every 10% increase in female immigration, nursing assistant hours go up by 0.7% and registered nursing hours go up by 1.1% And with that same immigration increase, short-term hospitalizations of nursing home residents go down by 0.6%.

The Solution 

Additionally, the State Department issued 145% more EB-3 documents, which are employment-based visas, for healthcare workers in the 2022 fiscal year than in 2019, suggesting that more people are coming to the U.S. to work in health care. 

However, according to Skilled Nursing News, in August of 2022, the approval process from beginning to end for an RN can take between seven to nine months. 

Displeasure about immigration has exploded since Pres. Joe Biden took office in 2021. According to a Gallup study published in February, around 40% of American adults want to see immigration decrease. That is a steep jump from 19% in 2021, and it is the highest the figure has been since 2016.

However, more than half of Democrats still are satisfied with immigration and want to see it increased. But with a divided Congress, the likelihood of any substantial immigration change happening is pretty slim. 

See what others are saying: (Axios) (KHN) (Skilled Nursing News)

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