Breonna Taylor case: Officer who fired fatal shot fights for job back

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – Tuesday marked the first day of the Louisville Metro Police Merit Board hearing for Myles Cosgrove, the former LMPD officer who was fired from his job at the start of the year.

Cosgrove’s termination letter cited excessive force and failure to identify a target during the March 13, 2020 attempted raid on Breonna Taylor’s home.

Cosgrove was one of three of the officers physically involved in the shooting to be fired. Former detective Joshua Jaynes faced the merit board during the summer of 2021. His termination letter cited ‘lying’ on the warrant affidavit used to access Taylor’s home. The merit board upheld former interim chief Yvette Gentry’s decision to remove Jaynes from the department.

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On the first day of arguments for Cosgrove. LMPD legal representative Brendan Daugherty said Cosgrove did not follow basic police protocol before he fired deadly shots into Taylor’s home.

“Myles Cosgrove fired 16 shots into Breonna Taylor’s apartment,” Daugherty said. “March 13, 2020. Sixteen shots in response to one shot fired by Kenneth Walker. LMPD officers on scene fired 32 times.”

Cosgrove’s attorney said on March 13, 2020 Cosgrove left his family to ‘help out’ LMPD. Scott Miller said Cosgrove knew nothing about the investigation, prior, during, or after the shooting.

Miller said Cosgrove was reacting in defense of former officer Jon Mattingly, who had been shot Walker, Taylor’s boyfriend. Walker said he shot a gun towards the floor after he thought someone was trying to break in to the apartment.

“These two statements can be made together,” Miller said. “One - Breonna Taylor’s death is tragic and we all know that. Two - Officer Cosgrove did not violate LMPD policy.”

Opening statements were followed by testimony from a sergeant in the LMPD Professional Standards Unit who said Cosgrove repeatedly made it clear no specific target was identified. The sergeant also said officers are trained to know they must identify a target, adding “they can’t just shoot into the dark and hope for the best, shooting innocent people helps no one.”

Testimony in the merit board hearing will continue tomorrow and will recess until December 14.

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