Myles Cosgrove

Former Louisville Officer Who Fatally Shot Breonna Taylor Hired As Deputy In Rural KY

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Screen Shot 2023 04 25 at 9.57.11 AM

A former Louisville police officer who fired the fatal shot that killed Breonna Taylor has a new job in law enforcement – a controversial hiring that drew protesters to a rural Kentucky county northeast of the city.

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday confirmed the employment of Myles Cosgrove, who was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department in January 2021 for violating use-of-force procedures and failing to use a body camera during the raid on Taylor’s apartment, according to media reports.

Investigators said that Cosgrove fired 16 rounds into the apartment after Taylor’s front door was breached during a narcotics raid on March 13, 2020. Thinking an intruder was breaking in, Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot from a handgun at the officers. Officer Jonathan Mattingly was struck in the leg, and the officers returned fire, killing Taylor in her hallway.

An FBI investigation determined that Cosgrove and Mattingly struck Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, and that Cosgrove likely fired the fatal shot. Neither officer was charged by a 2020 state grand jury in Taylor’s death, and a two-year investigation by the FBI also cleared Cosgrove and Mattingly of any charges.

The FBI probe found that other superior officers had crafted a faulty drug warrant that contained false information about Taylor. U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland said in August that the officers who went to Taylor’s apartment with the warrant “were not involved in drafting the warrant affidavit and were not aware that it was false.”

Robert Miller, chief deputy in Carroll County, pointed out that Cosgrove was cleared by the state grand jury when speaking of his hiring at the small Kentucky sheriff’s department.

The post Former Louisville Officer Who Fatally Shot Breonna Taylor Hired As Deputy In Rural KY appeared first on The Source.

Cop Who Killed Breonna Taylor Finds New Law Enforcement Job

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In March 2020, 26-year-old Breonna Taylor was shot and killed in her Louisville home by members of the Louisville Police Department. The officers had been conducting a no-knock warrant obtained to investigate reported links to a local drug dealing operation. Later investigations would find layers of protocol breaches, corruption, and no reason to actually investigate Taylor’s residence. Taylor’s residence was also never searched.

After police breached the apartment, they were fired upon by Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. Walker testified that the police did not announce themselves and he believed that they were instead intruders. Officers responded by firing 32 rounds into the apartment, hitting Taylor six times. After finding multiple breaches of police protocol in subsequent investigations, the LMPD fired Myles Cosgrove. Cosgrove was the officer deemed to have fired the shot that killed Taylor. Taylor’s death was just one of many that sparked a wave of anti-police protests in 2020.

Cosgrove’s Hiring Defended By New Employer

According to multiple sources, Myles Cosgrove has now found a new position in law enforcement. He will now serve as a member of the Carroll County Sherriff’s Department. Carroll County sits about 51 miles northeast of Louisville. Furthermore, the Sherriff’s Department has defended the hiring. Sherriff Ryan Gosser argued that Cosgrove had faced no legal consequences regarding Taylor’s death. Furthermore, Gosser defended Cosgrove’s experience and stated it would be a benefit to the department. “We’re going to give him a chance,” Gosser said. Cosgrove had appealed his firing numerous times but had never been reinstated. Most recently, his appeal was rejected and his firing upheld was in February.

However, this is the latest in a long history of cops being rehired. A 2022 Reuters report found that police officers rarely faced punishment for misconduct. Additionally, those who are punished are overwhelmingly rehired. In December 2022, a police officer fired from the San Antonio PD for giving a homeless man a feces sandwich was hired in a town 30 miles away. Furthermore, the officer who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 has been rehired twice in recent years. Public outcry about Cosgrove’s hiring has been swift and fierce. However, his new employer appears intent on retaining him for now.

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