A review board voted this week to back the Louisville Metro Police Department’s decision to fire Officer Myles Cosgrove for the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.
Cosgrove, one of the officers who served a no-knock search warrant at Taylor’s home in March 2020, fired 16 times, including the fatal shot, according to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.
Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was at home with boyfriend Kenneth Walker when the plainsclothes officers burst in. Walker claims he thought they were being robbed and responded by pulling out his licensed gun and firing once, hitting Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the leg.
That’s when the officers returned fire.
The attorney general’s office has defended the shooting, arguing that the officers were acting in self-defense after Walker fired first.
Only one of the officers, Brett Hankison, was charged at all, indicted in September 2020 on three counts of felony wanton endangerment for “blindly” firing shots that hit the adjacent apartment, occupied by three people including a child and a pregnant woman. He has pleaded not guilty and is expected to stand trial next year.
Cosgrove was fired in January for department violations, including use of deadly force and failing to activate his body camera. But his lawyers and the police union have argued that he was acting within his rights as an officer.
The merit board voted 5-2 Wednesday to uphold his termination.
