New Audio From Breonna Taylor Investigations Shows Conflicting Accounts Of Shooting Death By Louisville Police
LEMON: Tonight there's newly released audio from the internal investigation by Louisville police into the shooting death of Breonna Taylor back in March. The 26-year-old EMT was shot eight times after police broke down the door to her apartment while executing a nighttime warrant in a narcotics investigation. The audio shows conflicting accounts of what happened. So joining me now to talk about this is Benjamin Crump. He is attorney for Breonna Taylor's family. Ben, thank you. I really appreciate you joining us.</s>BEN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR BREONNA TAYLOR'S FAMILY: Thank you.</s>LEMON: Let's talk about this audio. Because according to the audio from this investigation, there appear to be conflicting accounts about whether the police identified themselves before breaking down the door through Breonna Taylor's home. What -- this is what the sergeant, Sergeant Mattingly, who led the raid said. Here it is.</s>JOHN MATTINGLY, SERGEANT WHO LED THE DEADLY NARCOTICS RAID ON BREONNA TAYLOR'S APARTMENT (voice-over): I probably banged on the door six -- six or seven different time periods, not six or seven times but six or seven different times. We're banging on the door and at that time I look back at Lt. Hoover and he says, 'I guess go ahead and hit it,' because at one point probably after the third time we banged, Mike was staring at the doorway and says 'I can hear somebody inside, I think they're coming to the door,' so we thought somebody was coming to the door, then we didn't hear anything else, so we kept banging and announcing.</s>LEMON: But this is a different account than what Kenneth Walker, Breonna Taylor's boyfriend says, isn't it?</s>CRUMP: Absolutely, Don. And when you listen to both of these recorded statements from Sergeant Mattingly and then from Kenneth Walker, what it tells you, Don Lemon, is that this was a conspiracy from day one to cover up the murder of Breonna Taylor by the Louisville police. I mean, it is so one-sided when you listen to these two interviews. Kenneth Walker, right after the tragedy happened, without the presence of a lawyer, they coerce him into waiving his Miranda rights and he talks to them. And then they betrayed him six days later in front of the grand jury and use what he said to get him indicted for attempted murder, where he can spend the rest of his life in jail.</s>LEMON: Let's listen to some of what he said. Here it is.</s>KENNETH WALKER, BOYFRIEND OF BREONNA TAYLOR (voice-over): I'm scared. I've never been that close to someone shooting a gun unless it's in a controlled environment such as at the range or something, so I'm like freaking out. I can't register anything that's going on, so --</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): So you just fired off one?</s>WALKER (voice-over): Yeah, just one. That was just the warning. I didn't know who is coming to the door. The door just got kicked off the hinges, so I'm scared. One shot, boom, and then there was a lot of shots, so I just dropped.</s>LEMON: He said that he was just protecting Breonna, his girlfriend. Anyone would be scared in this situation, right?</s>CRUMP: Absolutely, Don. And he even asked them, what would you do in that situation? Nobody identified themselves. We said, who is it, and then they just busted open the door. And it's so sad because at one point, he says, an officer told me, it was a misunderstanding. And then the internal affairs police officer said, well, that's new information to us. And Kenneth Walker said, I'm not an idiot, they did something wrong, I know they did something wrong. But yet they continue to try to cover it up, never telling the truth. One hundred and sixteen days later, Don, and they're still lying to us.</s>LEMON: Benjamin Crump, thank you so much. We'll have you back. We need to talk about what's happening in the George Floyd investigation, as well. But we appreciate you joining us here tonight on CNN. Keep us updated on the Breonna Taylor case, as well. Thank you so much.</s>CRUMP: Thank you, Don.</s>LEMON: From Drew Brees to DeSean Jackson, NFL teams and players are struggling with race issues. Are we witnessing a change across the league?