Source: Brandon Bell / Getty
Benjamin Crump, the noted civil rights attorney representing Breonna Taylor’s family, gave a swift rebuke of officer Jonathan Mattingly’s Good Morning America interview, where he incredulously stated that the incidents leading to Taylor’s death had “nothing to do with race.”
Mattingly was one of the five officers involved in the early morning raid which claimed the life of Taylor on March 13. He was placed on administrative leave from the Louisville Metro Police Department, but was not indicted on any charges related to Taylor’s death.
In the interview Mattingly claimed that the team yelled six times when they approached Taylor’s door. He shockingly stated that he feels Taylor would still be alive the team had stormed in instead of knocking. He also claimed body camera footage would have helped with transparency. One of the officers wearing a body camera that night conveniently did not have the instrument turned on.
“He doesn’t wish more than Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor’s mother that there was body camera video so it would be exposed how they executed their daughter,” Crump told TMZ.
His account again goes against Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Taylor, who has always maintained the police did not announce themselves. Mattingly was struck by a shot fired by Walker, who claimed he shot in self defense fearing an intruder.
“You know he gets the hindsight of living, being able to tell the story. What about Breonna’s truth? What about Kenny Walker’s truth?” Crump continued. “The fact that nobody responded to them when they said, ‘Who is it?’ and the fact that you have all these neighbors, that our legal team, attorney Sam Aguiar, attorney Lonita Baker, that we talked to that heard nobody knocking, they heard nobody yelling, and they all live in close proximity to Breonna Taylor’s apartment.
Crump stated that the prudent thing to do would be to not serve a no-knock warrant, and also addressed the probable cause affidavit which stated that there was suspicious packages being delivered to Taylor’s apartment.
“This is not relatable to a George Floyd. This is nothing like it. It’s not Ahmaud Arbery. It’s nothing like it. These are two totally different type of incidents. It’s not a race thing like people are trying to make it to be,” Mattingly said.
He also claimed that he is not a racist and wanted peace for his family who have received death threats. One piece of his interview that stuck out was when he said that just because a large majority of Black people feel they are racially profiled, doesn’t mean it’s real. The gaslighting is evident even when numerous studies have shown that Black people are targeted more by police. Data and numbers are real.
Crump said he couldn’t believe Mattingly tried to separate Taylor’s death from Taylor and Arbery and pointed out that Mattingly tried to assassinate Floyd’s character by saying he was unsure if Floyd died from an overdose during the time of his death.
“If you would have implicit bias in making that statement, how can I trust your statement with Breonna Taylor when you say it’s not about race because certainly that seems to be indicative of implicit bias to watch that video of George Floyd and then talk about, ‘well we don’t know what killed him,'” Crump said.
