Attorneys representing Breonna Taylor’s family have taken legal action against the Louisville Police Department. According to multiple reports, attorney Sam Aguiar filed a lawsuit on Wednesday (July 7) that accuses Louisville cops of possibly withholding footage of the young woman’s death.
The suit says that the cops were given Axon Flex 2 cameras that are programmed to automatically start recording in various situations like when a police vehicle’s light bar activates. Since some of the officers involved pulled up to the scene in their patrol cars, Aguiar and Taylor’s family believe that at least two of the cameras worn by responding police should have picked up light bars and recorded parts of the incident.
“Simply put, it would have been difficult for most of the LMPD members with body cameras … to not have had their Axon body cameras activated at one point or another,” the lawsuit reads. “There is a reasonable basis to believe that misinformation has been presented to the general public regarding the usage of body cameras by several members of the LMPD.”
The document also calls on the judge to request that the police show bodycam information from the night of the shooting as they believe it can provide more details about Taylor’s death.
Taylor was fatally shot last March at the hands of officers who raided her home using a no-knock warrant, but none of the cops involved in the shooting were charged with her murder. In the ongoing pursuit of justice, her family has been looking for clues, like the possible existing footage, that may help provide more clarity on the occurrences of the night.
Bodycam footage from the police department’s public integrity unit was released, but videos of cops executing the search warrant never came out. Per Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, officers at the scene either didn’t wear their cameras or didn’t have them activated. The attorneys for Taylor’s family, however, are not taking his statements at face value.
Last month, they filed an open records request, asking for Louisville police to release their body camera audit trail logs from March 2020. The lawsuit was filed after the department’s failure to provide the desired information.