Breonna Taylor wrongful death lawsuit amended to allege links to Louisville gentrification plan
Police faced pressure from the city to clear out the houses on Elliott Avenue for a 'large real estate development project,' the lawsuit said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The no-knock search warrant executed by Louisville police that resulted in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor was part of a larger plan by the city to clear the area for a "high dollar" real estate development, Taylor's family alleges in a recently amended wrongful death suit.
"The origin of Breonna’s home being raided by police starts with a political need to clear out a street for a large real estate development project and finishes with a newly formed, rogue police unit violating all levels of policy, protocol and policing standards," according to the lawsuit, filed Sunday in Jefferson Circuit Court.
LOUISVILLE DETECTIVE IN BREONNA TAYLOR SHOOTING IS FIRED
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The area of the intended development is on Elliott Avenue, in the Russell neighborhood, more than 10 miles away Taylor's home.
Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT, was shot eight times as officers burst into her home on Springfield Drive, firing off over 20 rounds, as they were conducting a narcotics investigation on March 13.
Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old African-American emergency medical technician. (Taylor family photo)
No drugs were found in the house.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A car registered to Taylor had been seen several times at a suspected drug house on Elliott Avenue, according to a police affidavit.
Attorneys for Taylor's family wrote in the suit that the house was one of the major roadblocks to the project, and was being rented by Taylor's ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover.
According to court documents, the officers who stormed Taylor's house were executing a drug warrant in search of a male suspect who didn't live in her apartment complex. It turned out he already had been detained by authorities before the warrant was executed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Taylor's family says a specific unit within the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department "went on a crusade to target people and homes" on Elliott Avenue in an effort to vacate the premises "so that a high dollar, legacy-creating real estate development could move forward."
The suit mentions Vision Russell, a community initiative put into place by the mayor to revitalize and redevelop the neighborhood, which has a number of abandoned homes and has been riddled with drug trafficking.
The lawyers claim over a three-week span in 2020, the city demolished eight homes on the street to make room for the new initiative.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Glover was arrested the day of the shooting and nearly three months later, the city purchased the property he was renting for approximately $17,000, WLKY reported.
The mayor's office has denied that the shooting is connected to the Vision Russell project.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"They are insulting to the neighborhood members of the Vision Russell initiative and all the people involved in the years of work being done to revitalize the neighborhoods of west Louisville," a spokesperson for Mayor Greg Fischer said in a statement to WLKY.