Former officer who fatally shot Breonna Taylor has new job as sheriff’s deputy
CARROLLTON, Ky. — A former Louisville, Ky., police officer who fired the shot that killed Breonna Taylor has a new job in law enforcement, a controversial hiring that drew protesters to a rural county northeast of the city.
The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday confirmed the hiring of Myles Cosgrove, who was fired by the Louisville Metro Police Department in January 2021 for violating use-of-force procedures and failing to use a body camera during a raid on Taylor’s apartment, according to media reports.
About a dozen people showed up Monday morning in downtown Carrollton, Ky., to object to his hiring, holding signs and chanting, “Cosgrove has got to go.”
“I think he should be in jail,” said Haley Wilson, a 24-year-old resident of the town near the Ohio River. She said it is “absolutely ridiculous” that Cosgrove is policing her town.
Investigators said Cosgrove fired 16 rounds into Taylor’s apartment after her front door was breached during a narcotics raid on March 13, 2020. Thinking that there was an intruder, Taylor’s boyfriend fired a handgun, striking Officer Jonathan Mattingly. The officers returned fire, killing Taylor in her hallway.
An FBI investigation determined that shots fired by Cosgrove and Mattingly struck Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, and that Cosgrove, who is white, 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 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. Atty. Gen. 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.”
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In announcing Cosgrove’s hiring at the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, Chief Deputy Robert Miller noted that Cosgrove had been cleared by the state grand jury.
In November, the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council voted not to revoke Cosgrove’s state peace officer certification. This meant he could apply for other law enforcement jobs in the state.
Brett Hankison, an officer who fired shots during the raid that did not hit anybody, was found by a jury to be not guilty of wanton endangerment. He awaits trial on federal civil rights charges for his actions during the raid, as do two other officers who were involved in obtaining the warrant. Another officer pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the crafting of the warrant.
There is no national database of officers who resign or are fired in misconduct cases, meaning that in many cases they can apply for jobs in other police agencies.
In some cases, agencies that hire officers who were fired elsewhere may be unaware of that history because they failed to conduct proper background checks, said Ben Grunwald, a Duke University law school professor and co-author of a study published in 2020 on “wandering officers,” or those fired by one agency who find work at another.
In some cases, it’s possible the hiring agency sees a previously fired officer’s history as a benefit, rather than a risk, Grunwald said.
“Maybe that’s exactly what they want,” he said. “Maybe they are looking for a cowboy cop who has gotten in trouble in the past, but they think they got a bad shake.”
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