As reported by The Louisville Courier-Journal, the Police Merit Board voted 5-2 not to rehire one of the terminated officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor.
On March 13, 2020, former detective Myles Cosgrove fired 16 rounds into Taylor’s apartment. He was fired from the department in January for failing to “properly identify a target.”
As the second officer involved in the Taylor case to appeal his termination, Cosgrove joins Joshua Jaynes who was fired when he lied to obtain a warrant for the botched search.
According to the LMPD‘s internal investigation, Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Cosgrove should not have opened fire on Taylor‘s apartment.
It revealed in an FBI ballistics report that Taylor was shot by Cosgrove while Hankison, who was standing outside the apartment door, fired ten rounds into the house through a patio door covered with blinds.
ABC News obtained documents showing that the department‘s Professional Standards Unit determined the three officers should have held their fire after Taylor‘s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot, believing intruders had broken into their home.
After it was determined that Hankinson fired three shots into the wall that connected to the adjacent apartment, he was charged with wanton endangerment and pleaded not guilty. Hankinson was also fired from LMPD after his actions were found.
Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron announced in September 2020 that a grand jury declined to indict any officer in Taylor’s death.
