By Joanna Putman
Police1
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky Court of Appeals has upheld the Louisville Metro Police Department’s decision to terminate Myles Cosgrove, a former detective involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, the Courier Journal reported.
Cosgrove was dismissed in January 2021 by former interim Chief Yvette Gentry for breaches of the department’s use of force protocols and for not wearing a body camera during the March 2020 raid on Taylor’s apartment, according to the report. The Jefferson Circuit Court and the Louisville Metro Police merit board also previously ruled in favor of LMPD.
“Here, it is clear that [Cosgrove] knew the flashing lights he witnessed in Ms. Taylor’s apartment were coming from gunfire; however, substantial evidence supported the determination that [Cosgrove] was not clear on who he was firing at and whether there were multiple people in the line of fire,’” the Court of Appeals ruling stated, summarizing Cosgrove’s conduct during the incident.
Cosgrove, along with ex-LMPD sergeant Jonathan Mattingly and former detective Brett Hankison, discharged a total of 32 rounds after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenny Walker, shot Mattingly in the leg, according to the report. An FBI analysis later confirmed that a bullet from Cosgrove’s gun fatally struck Taylor, 26.
Cosgrove filed a suit to regain his position and was hired by the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department in April 2023, according to the report.
“I know what I did was justified,” Cosgrove stated during his testimony in Hankinson’s 2023 civil rights trial. “What I did protected my life and protected Jon’s [Mattingly’s] life. I can live with that, humbly, knowing that. But the outcome is the least desirable thing I would ever wish.”