Tyler Perry has donated $100,000 to the legal defense fund of Kenneth Walker, the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor , as he prepares to fight ...
Tyler Perry has donated $100,000 to the legal defense fund of Kenneth Walker, the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, as he prepares to fight a lawsuit filed by one of the officers who shot the 26-year-old EMT dead during a police raid in March.
Actor and producer Perry, 51, made the donation in four separate transactions on Sunday afternoon, via a GoFundMe page set up on behalf of Walker ahead of his upcoming legal battle against Louisville Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly.
Each of the transactions were made within minutes of one another. The first two sums were for $10,000, a third for $50,000 and a fourth and final donation was made for $30,000.
Perry’s donations single-handedly took Walker’s fundraiser over its $100k goal. Prior to his intervention the fund had been idling at just a few hundred dollars.
Tyler Perry has donated a whopping $100,000 to the legal defense fund of Kenneth Walker
Walker (left with Breonna Taylor) is preparing to fight a lawsuit filed by one of the officers who shot the 26-year-old EMT dead during a police raid in March, John Mattingly (right)
Mattingly sued Walker for assault, battery and emotional distress back in October, in relation to the fatal March 13 police shooting of Breonna Taylor inside her Louisville home.
The police sergeant said that Walker, 26, fired a shot that hit him in the leg after officers had entered the home on a 'no-knock' search warrant as part of a drugs investigation.
Mattingly, a 20-year veteran of the force, was the only officer wounded in the incident, and Taylor's boyfriend claimed he thought the officers were burglars.
Officers then returned fire, shooting into the apartment 32 times and killing 26-year-old Breonna in a hail of bullets.
Mattingly has blamed Walker for Taylor's death because the officers 'returned fire' after he was shot in the leg.
Taylor was struck five times and died in her hallway. She had no criminal record and no drugs were found at the property.
The officer's lawsuit states the incident caused Mattingly 'severe trauma, mental anguish, and emotional distress'.
'Walker's conduct in shooting Mattingly is outrageous, intolerable, and offends all accepted standards of decency and morality,' the suit reads.
Perry made fur transactions within minutes of one another. The first two sums were for $10,000, a third for $50,000 and a fourth and final donation was made for $30,000
Perry’s donations single-handedly took Walker’s fundraiser over its $100k goal. Prior to his intervention the fund had been idling at just a few hundred dollars
The police officer has previously said that Taylor's case is a tragedy but maintains he was doing his job.
'This is a point where we were doing our job, we gave too much time when we go in, I get shot, we returned fire,' Mattingly said in an interview with ABC News/The Courier Journal in October.
'This is not us going, hunting somebody down. This is not kneeling on a neck. It's nothing like that,' referring to the death of George Floyd in May.
In response to the lawsuit, Walker's lawyer said his client was 'immune from both criminal prosecution and civil liability as he was acting in self defense in his own home.'
Walker himself has filed suit against several Louisville police officers.
Louisville Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly (pictured) is suing Breonna Taylor's boyfriend for alleged assault and emotional distress
Walker has maintained Mattingly and the cops who fired at his girlfriend are the ones to blame
Mattingly, Detective Myles Cosgrove and former Detective Brett Hankison, were in plainclothes when they forced entry into Taylor’s apartment to conduct a 'no knock' warrant in an attempted drug raid shortly before 1am.
They started shooting after Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker fired what he called a 'warning shot' when police broke down the door.
He said he fired in self defense because the cops didn't announce themselves.
Mattingly was the only officer injured in the incident as Walker’s bullet struck him in the femoral artery, which required surgery to heal.
Former Detective Brett Hankison, the only officer fired over the incident, was indicted on three counts of wanton endangerment on September 23 because he fired shots into a neighboring apartment with three people inside. He pleaded not guilty five days later.
Mattingly and Det. Myles Cosgrove are still with the police department and have been placed on administrative reassignment.
Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky home on March 13 when three plainclothes officers broke in during a botched drug raid
Anger simmers across the country as no officers have been charged in Taylor’s death despite national protests and demands for charges
Perry, meanwhile, who is a billionaire, is well known for his philanthropy.
Perry, who is a billionaire, is well known for his philanthropy
The self-made actor, writer, director and producer heads ups the Perry Foundation, which is geared toward giving back to his community and others in need across the country.
Since launching the foundation in 2006, and since opening his first eponymous studio in Atlanta in 2008, Perry has worked tirelessly to give back both on and off screen.
Perry has supported civil rights through large-scale and individual donations, making history in 2009 with the largest-ever individual contribution — $1 million — to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in celebration of the organization's 100 year anniversary.
He also has a well-documented history of covering the expenses for rent, funerals and college education for those in need as well, particularly in his Atlanta community.
Earlier this year, Perry volunteered to cover funeral expenses for eight-year-old Secoriea Turner, and for Rayshard Brooks, a Black man killed by police. Perry will also cover the college education of Brooks’ four children.
In July, he donated 1,000 Kroger gift cards to residents across Atlanta and enlisted local police officers to go door-to-door to hand them out in an effort to ‘bridge unity’ in the community, amid national protests regarding police brutality.
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