Her life mattered, even to those whose actions led to her death
Phone calls from jail reveal a love triangle and a tragic double life
By TATIANA PROPHET
Breonna Taylor is a legend. Not just because her tragic death has led to the search for social justice in our local, state and national communities; but because her life, and death, when accurately known, are more powerful and game-changing than the narrative we’re receiving.
As an EMT for two hospitals, Taylor’s life was a story of achievement and excellence. It was also about being pursued by a man whose attraction was somehow so potent, that she was willing to bail him out of jail, hide thousands of dollars for him, and go on drug drop-offs with him, even though she had begun dating someone else — someone with a much more positive pathway.
How unfortunate for us all that we are receiving a watered-down, one-sided, and frankly quite empty characterization of the night of March 13, 2020, as systemic racism emerging with the worst of police overreach — wantonly and recklessly preying upon law-abiding Louisville residents in search of a big bust.
To most journalists and social media users, Taylor was simply minding her own business in her own home when plainclothes police broke down her door and shot her in bed. Wrote BET staff on June 18:
“Taylor was killed on May 13 [sic], shortly after midnight, when three plain clothes officers broke down her door and shot her eight times in her own apartment in an attempt to arrest her for a crime she didn’t commit. Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who was home with her at the time of the raid, fired at officers in self-defense and was charged with attempted murder of a police officer. Charges against Walker were dropped on May 22.”
The article gets the date of the shooting wrong (it was March 13), and notice how they say Walker shot “at officers in self-defense,” leaving out who actually shot first (Walker did). Why does it matter? Details always matter. A police officer is much more likely to start shooting if they’ve been shot first.
As Taylor’s sometime boyfriend Jamarcus Glover, the alleged drug dealer/player, said in a phone call from jail after she was shot:
“At the end of the day if I would have been at that house, Bre would be alive bruh … I don’t shoot at no police.”
If someone hadn’t leaked the jailhouse phone calls to to Louisville NBC News affiliate Wave 3, we may never know the details. Police contact with Taylor began in 2016, when a body was found in a car rented in her name. The homicide victim was Fernandez Bowman, (aka Rambo), the brother of .Glover associate Demarius Bowman. The report doesn’t say what happened with that case, but Taylor’s car rental at that time began a paper trail of surveillance involving her, Glover, and his drug operation.
Taylor bailed out Glover in 2017 — and in 2020. It turns out she was in regular contact with Glover early this year, including dating and holding thousands of dollars for him, according to jail phone calls. She had also begun dating Kenneth Walker, a man with no criminal record who had a license to conceal and carry a firearm, and whom her family approved of. The fateful night he was staying at Breonna’s apartment, he had a Glock 9mm handgun within reach and ready to go.
Most people don’t know that Walker admitted he shot at police first. He told a friend in a jail phone call the day of her death that police knocked, but they didn’t say who they were.
Nearly all media reports about Taylor state that nothing illegal was found in her purse or apartment on that fateful night she was shot, and that neither she nor Kenneth Walker had a criminal record (which as far as we know, is true). But some reports state what is definitively not true: that police went to the wrong door when they executed a search warrant on Taylor’s house at 3003 Springfield Drive #4.
In fact, according to a leaked police report sent exclusively to Louisville NBC News affiliate Wave 3, a search warrant did contain Taylor’s name because surveillance showed far more activity than “receiving packages” for her ex. And in spite of widespread reports that police were executing a no-knock warrant, the leaked document shows Walker admitting that police knocked, but did not speak or announce who they were. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron stated that a witness has corroborated that police both knocked and announced themselves. (Is it possible that Taylor and Glover couldn’t hear the police talking? It’s possible.)
Another detail: The raid happened shortly after midnight, which both Glover and Walker stated in their phone calls was more like a time for a robbery than for a police raid.
And the widespread public notion Taylor had no involvement in Glover’s enterprise is simply not factual.. As recently as Valentine’s Day 2020, Taylor was spotted on a surveillance camera stopping at a known drug house with Glover. According to a jail phone call, the mother of Glover’s child, Keira Bradley, said she had figured out they were together from media on Facebook.
The publicity about Breonna’s death has emerged amid widespread public anger and unrest over police misconduct — especially toward black Americans. Is this sentiment reflective of a systemic disregard for black lives, and a deliberately careless status quo that allows white police offers to hunt down black Americans? See the video below for an examination of the statistics.
Over the last four or five years (maybe more), trusted mainstream media have begun to violate standards that stretch back for decades, admonishing journalists to leave a person’s race out of any article, especially regarding crime coverage, unless their race is relevant to the coverage or a description of a suspect is needed.
For example, the Washington Post’s Derek Hawkins wrote the following about the terrible shooting of Atatiana Jefferson in Texas: “A white Fort Worth police officer fatally shot a black woman in her home early Saturday, firing through a bedroom window while responding to a call about an open door at the residence, police said.” Speaking of police misconduct, the case of Jefferson’s death (while she was playing video games with her nephew), seems a lot more dubious than the one involving Breonna Taylor — given that it was simply about a neighbor requesting a welfare check since the front door was ajar.
Further, any examination of the Washington Post’s database of all officer-involved shootings show examples of white Americans being unjustly killed in their homes, minding their own business. Christopher Palmer was killed in early March, sitting on the couch with his mother and stepfather in Manila, Ark. Palmer was white. There was no mention of his race in the local news article.
The photo in Christopher Palmer’s obituary. Palmer was shot by police while sitting on the couch with his mother and stepfather in Manila, Ark.
Back to the Taylor story: The surveillance cameras were at the drug house there because police were following Glover and his operation. They had observed an increase in “aggravated assaults and narcotics-related offences” around the vicinity, 2424 Elliot Avenue. They knew that Taylor, while not exclusively dating Glover, had recently bailed him out of jail and was still in regular contact with him. He used her address for his bank account, regularly used her car, and called her at least 26 times from jail in January 2020. And according to their jail phone calls, she was helping him on the outside, taking instructions about which associate to contact because “he’s got my … money,” and even being asked to let him rest in her bed when he got out of jail.
JAN 3, 2020. 3:49 PM. CALL FROM JAMARCUS GLOVER TO BREONNA TAYLOR FROM BOOKING
J. Glover says to B. Taylor: “I’ll come get me some rest in your bed.”
B. Taylor says to J. Glover: “Jamarcus.”
J. Glover says to B. Taylor: “What, you don’t want me in your bed?”
B. Taylor says to J. Glover: “I didn’t say that … I haven’t really been sleeping right either. I keep waking up every other hour type shit.”
J. Glover says to B. Taylor: “Checking on me? … I want you to know I appreciate it.”
B. Taylor says to J. Glover: “When you’re around I stress more … Because I just always be worried about you … Not like with you and bitches but just period with the police, like all kind of shit.”
J. Glover says to B. Taylor: “I love you.”
B. Taylor says to J. Glove: “I love you too.”
Wave 3 did not release the leaked document, but rather published an article describing it (see link above). But digital warrior and former police officer Brandon Tatum also received the leaked document, and posted it online.
If the evidence in the leaked document is complete and true, it paints a much different picture than what’s been codified in the national consciousness, even up to this day.
What news reports have said, that nothing was found at Taylor’s apartment and that she was being pursued for a crime she didn’t commit, are not only wrong, they are assumptions about circumstances that require evidence to prove. This is a disturbing trend in journalism today.
A phone call between Glover and Bradley (his child’s mother) revealed just how deep Breonna was allegedly involved in his enterprise. The evidence is so strong, that it’s possible if Walker hadn’t shot at police, Breonna would have been arrested.
In an early afternoon phone call from March 13:
K. Bradley: “So where your money at?'“
J. Glover: “Where my money at? Bre had like $8 grand.”
K Bradley: “Bre had $8 grand of your money?”
J. Glover: “Yeah.”
J. Glover to an unknown male who has joined the call, “Tell cuz, Bre got down like $15 (grand), she had the $8 I gave her the other day and she picked up another $6 (grand).”
Bradley gets upset and J. Glover says, “This is what you got to understand, don’t take it wrong but Bre been handling all my money, she been handling all my money … She been handling shit for me and cuz, it ain’t just me.”
Amazingly, Glover had the chance to talk to Kenneth Walker — presumably in person — in jail that same day.
On a call, he tells his partner Adrian Walker (no apparent relation): “They didn’t find nothing at her house.”
Walker replies, “I thought you said they found some money over there?”
Glover: “It was there, it was there, it was there. … They didn’t do nothing though, that’s the problem. Kenneth said ain’t none of that go on.”
Walker: “So they didn’t take none of the money?”
Glover: “Kenneth said that none of that go on. He said Homicide came straight on the scene and went right to packaging Bre and then left.”
Walker: “He said they didn’t announce themselves or something?”
Glover: “He saying they wasn’t, they was just beating so hard.”
Walker: “She was in the hallway?”
Glover: “In the hallway …”
Walker: “That is just so sad, bruh.”
Glover: “You think I ain’t hurt? …You know I don’t give a fuck about nothing but them, nothing but Bre, nothing but Rica, nothing but [inaudible], them my only three. I don’t do shit for nobody else out here, bruh.”
The evidence speaks for itself, adding much more light to a situation that still doesn’t fully make sense. The biggest things that don’t make sense are the hour of the raid; and the fact that, while they got warrants for three houses last night to be raided simultaneously, “superiors” according to Cameron instructed the team to knock at Taylor’s house. Glover had been picked up the same night at the drug house at Elliot Avenue, and crack cocaine, fentanyl, guns plus a large sum of money were also seized.
Should the officers have been arrested and charged for Breonna’s murder? That was for the grand jury to decide. In the meantime, many Americans are hurting because they perceive that Breonna Taylor’s life didn’t matter.
For months, people have been posting on social media: “Breonna Taylor’s killers have still not been arrested.” Perhaps they should read the evidence, then decide.
But most of us never had the chance to examine the evidence in an unbiased way. For nearly every high-profile case of a white officer or Hispanic officer killing a black American, one man has swooped in to take command of the narrative: attorney Benjamin Crump. Crump has represented Trayvon Martin’s family, Michael Brown’s family, Ahmaud Arbery’s family and Jacob Blake’s family.
In September, after a grand jury declined to arrest or charge any of the police officers for Breonna Taylor’s death, Crump put out this statement:
“This is outrageous and offensive to Breonna Taylor’s memory. It’s yet another example of no accountability for the genocide of persons of color by white police officers. With all we know about Breonna Taylor’s killing, how could a fair and just system result in today’s decision? Her killing was criminal on so many levels: An illegal warrant obtained by perjury. Breaking into a home without announcing, despite instructions to execute a warrant that required it. More than 30 gunshots fired, many of which were aimed at Breonna while she was on the ground. Many others fired blindly into every room of her home. A documented and clear cover-up, and the death of an unarmed Black woman who posed no threat and who was living her best life. Yet here we are, without justice for Breonna, her family and the Black community.”
Crump is a good attorney; he knows how to make his opening and closing arguments to the jury of the American public. Are we paying attention to the evidence, as well?
