Breonna Taylor's Boyfriend Can't Wake From 'Nightmare'

He pens a piece following Kelly Goodlett's guilty plea
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 26, 2022 11:55 AM CDT
Breonna Taylor's Boyfriend Takes You Into His 'Nightmare'
A ground mural depicting a portrait of Breonna Taylor is seen at Chambers Park in Annapolis, Md., July 6, 2020.   (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

When Kenneth Walker was pulled over while driving in Tennessee last year, the officer ran his info as expected—and saw the Black man had once been charged with the attempted murder of a police officer. "For a moment, I felt as helpless and afraid as I did on March 13, 2020," writes Walker—Breonna Taylor's boyfriend—in a piece for the Washington Post. After almost 2.5 years, he writes that he's grateful to finally, finally see "some basic justice" for Breonna. Walker is referring to former police detective Kelly Goodlett's Tuesday guilty plea, in which she admitted helping to falsify the affidavit behind the search warrant that led to Breonna's death and to conspiring to cover up the lie.

"The wheels of justice have turned very slowly, but I am grateful that the Justice Department has been faithful in its pursuit of the truth," Walker writes. Still, Goodlett’s plea is "bittersweet." For Walker, there is no escaping the case. Though the attempted murder charges were dismissed (Walker used his firearm "lawfully," he notes, firing a single shot after cops broke down Breonna's door), his mug shot was widely circulated and he continues to be "wrongly called a 'thug' and a 'drug dealer' by people I have never met." He continues, "I have to live as a witness to Bre’s horrific and tragic death. The memory of that door being forced open is with me constantly and makes it very hard to sleep"—and yet he's also stuck in a "nightmare" he can't wake from. (Read the full piece.)

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