In the months following the botched raid that killed Breonna Taylor, a Louisville SWAT commander, expressed concerns about how the fatal raid was carried out.
Louisville Metro Police Department Lieutenant Dale Massey expressed his concerns during a lengthy interview with detectives in the Public Integrity Unit. According to Vice, Massey made it clear he was not the only officer who had concerns.
The audio of the interview was obtained by the publication and has not been made public otherwise. In the recording, Massey told investigators that they “just got a feeling that night that, you know, um, something really bad happened.”
The SWAT unit is usually called in for riskier raids and was not called to the raid at Taylor’s apartment, which was considered low risk, until Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly was shot. Massey described arriving at a “chaotic scene” following the shooting, with officers milling about the crime scene freely.
Officers that were involved in the shooting were not paired with a peer support officer, as is policy, and remained present at the crime scene. Massey specifically names Detective Myles Cosgrove, who fired 16 rounds that night, seen walking around the area with a rifle.
“While we’re on scene, we learned that Cosgrove’s involved in it. Like, I had no idea he was part of it,” Massey said. “I do remember saying, ‘Hey, separate him. He’s involved.’ He was way too up in the mix.”
Former LMPD officer Brett Hankison was seen walking onto the scene and asking questions. Hankison was one of the officers who fired his weapon that night and is the only officer charged for doing so. Hankison pleaded not guilty to three counts of wanton endangerment this week for his part in the deadly raid.
“From my experience with my officer-involved, I was immediately assigned an escort officer,” Hogan said. “They took me into my car and told me, “Hey, just chill out, don’t say nothing.’” In their own interviews with investigators, Hankison and Cosgrove confirm they were not separated from the scene.
Other SWAT officers have backed up Massey’s claims about the events that took place that night and expressed concerns of their own, about not only what went on during the raid that night, but that they were not even aware the raid was taking place. Although SWAT is not required to be notified, the planned raid on Taylor’s home was carried out during the same time SWAT was carrying out other raids across town. Massey says this can be dangerous because if something goes wrong like something went wrong during the raid on Taylor’s home, officers would not be immediately available to back up the location experiencing an issue.
Massey said if he had known the raid was occurring on Springfield, he would‘ve “100 percent” advised them against doing it simultaneously as the other raids.
“If no one’s got to die, they don’t have to die. Like, $14,000 isn’t worth it. Any amount of dope’s not worth it either. As we debriefed and kinda looked over, it was just – it was just an egregious act,” Massey said.
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