Louisville cop who fatally shot Breonna Taylor appeals to get job back in police department

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville Metro Police Merit Board will begin to hear the case Tuesday of the former Louisville Metro Police detective who was fired after he fatally shot Breonna Taylor and is now trying to win his job back.

Myles Cosgrove lost his job in January for failing to "properly identify a target" when he shot 16 rounds into Taylor's apartment in the early morning hours of March 13, 2020.

Over the course of five days in November and December, Cosgrove and his legal team will argue he deserves to be reinstated on the police force.

Former Louisville interim police Chief Yvette Gentry determined that Cosgrove violated department procedures for use of force and failing to use a body camera during the search.

In a pretermination letter, Gentry said Cosgrove failed to "properly identify a target" and he fired in "three distinctly different directions."

Cosgrove and his attorney took part in a pretermination hearing with Gentry, but she was not swayed by their argument.

"I considered the information you provided at our meeting concerning 'force science,' that is, the effect of serious physical threat on an officer's performance," Gentry wrote to Cosgrove. "However, despite your years of service, I cannot justify your conduct nor in good conscience recommend anything less than termination."

Cosgrove was officially fired Jan. 5 and submitted an appeal to the Merit Board Jan. 10.

Cosgrove was one of seven plainclothes LMPD officers assigned to serve a search warrant at Taylor's apartment around 12:40 a.m.

After police used a battering ram to force open Taylor's front door, Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired one shot from his legally owned handgun, striking Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly. Walker has said he did not know it was officers outside the door.

In return, Mattingly fired six rounds, Cosgrove fired 16 rounds and a third detective, Brett Hankison, fired 10 rounds.

Taylor was struck six times and died in her hallway. She wasn't armed. The FBI concluded Cosgrove fired the fatal shot.

Cosgrove's attorney, L. Scott Miller, argued in the appeal notice the ex-detective's alleged violation was "not consistent with the (standard operating procedures) as written at the time.

"This is underscored by the fact that another officer who discharged his weapon after being confronted with the same threat identified by Detective Cosgrove was exonerated of any violation of the department’s use of deadly force policy, while Detective Cosgrove has been terminated," Miller wrote, referencing Mattingly, who was not punished for his role in the shooting.

Miller also says Cosgrove was not required to wear a body camera because he was a narcotics officer.

The hearing will begin Tuesday, continue Wednesday and resume Dec. 13-15.

Merit Board hearings resemble trials. Both sides will be able to make opening and closing arguments, call and question witnesses and present evidence to the board members.

Per state law, the merit board has five members appointed by the mayor and approved by Metro Council, who serve four-year terms. In discipline cases, two police officers elected by LMPD to two-year terms serve as additional members of the board, with voting powers.

At the end of the hearing, members will go into closed session to discuss the case and return to the open meeting to cast their votes publicly.

If they determine the firing was not justified, they could create a new penalty. If they uphold the firing, Cosgrove has the right to appeal to circuit court.

If past Merit Board appeals are any indication, Cosgrove is facing a steep battle to get his job back.

Since 2015, eight officers — including another detective, Joshua Jaynes, fired for his role in the Taylor case — have appealed their terminations. They all lost, a Courier Journal analysis found.

And, even when the board does rule in officers' favor on other disciplinary actions such as suspensions or demotions, the revisions often aren't hugely consequential.

Reach Tessa Duvall on Twitter: @TessaDuvall.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Breonna Taylor shooting: Former officer makes case to get his job back