The chief said Det. Joshua Jaynes has been placed on administrative reassignment nearly three months after the incident.
The detective who applied for the "no-knock" warrant with which officers who entered the home of Breonna Taylor were armed has been placed on administrative reassignment, according to the interim police chief of the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department.
“I recognize the process takes longer than we would all want.," Chief Rob Schroeder said Wednesday. "But it’s what must be done to ensure a thorough and fair investigation for everybody involved.”
The chief said Det. Joshua Jaynes has been placed on administrative reassignment. The move comes nearly three months after Taylor's killing.
“We're in June now, so three months later, placed on administrative reassignment,” a frustrated Lonita Baker, an attorney representing the family of Breonna Taylor, told Inside Edition Digital.
On March 13, police armed with that no-knock warrant used a battering ram to enter Taylor's apartment around 1 a.m. as part of a narcotics investigation, court documents said.
Taylor’s family and their attorneys have questioned the veracity of the warrant, which claimed a postal inspector had told police that suspicious packages were going to Taylor’s apartment.
“Josh Jaynes, who was today placed on administrative leave, stated that the postal inspector confirmed that there were suspicious packages going to that primary target to Breonna's house,” Baker said Wednesday. “Well, the postal inspector said 'no one from Louisville Metro Police ever reached out to me. The one agency that did reach out, we told them there's no suspicious activity.'
"[Jaynes] was trying to say, ‘Oh, we have confirmation that suspicious packages are going to her address,’" Baker continued. "There was nothing to tie her to any investigation, and we know that was a lie. He had no confirmation of any suspicious packages.”
Inside Edition Digital reached out to the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department for comment. In response to questions surrounding the warrant and Baker's claims the postal inspector said police did not speak to them, Schroder said: “This matter has also been referred to the FBI. This is all part of the process of getting to the truth of what happened that night, and leading up to that night.”
The Louisville Metro Police Officers Union did not respond to Inside Edition Digital's request for comment.
Taylor's family has filed a lawsuit against three officers with the department, alleging Taylor and her boyfriend, who were home in bed, thought they were being burglarized when officers barged in. Walker allegedly opened fire on cops with his licensed weapon and one officer was shot in the leg, police said. The lawsuit said police then fired more than 20 round into the home “blindly.”
There has been nothing filed in response the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Breonna Taylor's family, the Jefferson Circuit Court told Inside Edition Digital.
Louisville police claim they knocked on Taylor’s door several times while executing their warrant before entering and identified themselves as police before they were “immediately met by gunfire,” according to Lt. Ted Eidem.
Neighbors of Taylor and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker, however, said police did not identify themselves, according to the family’s lawsuit. Walker called 911 during the ordeal and police informed him he’d shot an officer.
Neither Taylor nor Walker were the investigation's target. Police had suspected, though, that Taylor’s home was used by another person to receive drugs. Neither Taylor nor Walker had any criminal history and no drugs were located in the home.
Walker, 27, had been charged with assault and attempted murder on a police officer. Walker had previously pleaded not guilty and been released to "home incarceration” before a judge dismissed his case last month.
Breonna Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, told Inside Edition Digital she was “upset” that Walker was initially arrested.
“[Police] had painted this picture, and all along, again, it wasn't a true statement, and the same thing. They couldn't dig his name into the ground,” she said. “Here you are with these two people who don't even have a criminal record. Now, you want to charge him with attempted murder and call her a suspect?”
It was announced last month that the FBI is now investigating the death of Taylor.
“There's always the concerns of many of the officers involved were on a task force with the FBI, so I'm hoping that it's not FBI agents that worked alongside these officers,” Baker told Inside Edition Digital. “I'm a strong believer that outside agencies need to be the agencies that investigate.
"No police department should have to investigate people that they've been partners with in the past, people that they're friends with, people that their children are friends with, their children.”
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