Myles Cosgrove, officer who killed Breonna Taylor, rams car, pulls gun, witnesses say

This story has been updated to add comments from Carroll County Sheriff Ryan Gosser, who did not respond to a request for comment before the story was originally published.

WORTHVILLE, Ky. − Myles Cosgrove, the former Louisville police officer, who was fired for fatally shooting Breonna Taylor in a botched 2020 police raid and hired earlier this year as a sheriff’s deputy in Carroll County, rammed a resident’s truck with his cruiser Monday and then pointed a gun at the owner and several bystanders, witnesses said.

Witnesses told The Courier Journal that Cosgrove barreled into Happy Hollow Private Resort Park trailer park at a high rate of speed without his emergency lights on, then struck William Joshua Short’s pickup truck with such force that it sent the vehicle flying into a building, breaking off two cinder blocks.

Cosgrove’s cruiser then struck another car, damaging its rear end, the witnesses said.

Carroll County Sheriff Ryan Gosser, who did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment, said Friday he disputes most of the witness accounts.

In an email, Gosser said “evidence shows that Cosgrove was not going at a high rate of speed when he drove into the trailer park and that had his blue lights activated.

Gosser said Short was rounding a building in the Happy Hollow at a high rate of speed prior to impact and that the two vehicles collided when Short turned in front of him.

Gosser acknowledged that Cosgrove pulled his gun, but said it was because “several people came in Cosgrove's direction shouting threats and menacing Cosgrove.”

Gosser said Kentucky State Police charged Short, not the sheriff’s office.

He also said Cosgrove “has been a good deputy and has represented this office professionally."

Short was charged with wanton endangerment of a police officer along with fleeing and evading police, even though witnesses said he made no attempt to get away, either in his truck or on foot.

Jackie McCormack, who was visiting his niece at the Happy Hollow in Worthville, said the charges were unjustified. He said Cosgrove, not Short, was the aggressor.

“He hit him pretty hard,” McCormack said. “He just straight rammed him.”

“Josh (Short) could have been killed,” said Alexus Mobley, who was a passenger in Short’s truck.

She said she knew Cosgrove’s background and was “terrified” when he pointed his gun at her and others.

“He is obviously gun happy,” McCormack said.

Cosgrove, who was hired in April, did not immediately respond to a message left at the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office. Nor did Sheriff Ryan Gosser or Chief Deputy Rob Miller.

Cosgrove was fired by in 2021 by Interim Chief Yvette Gentry for failing to properly identify a target when he fired 16 bullets in Taylor’s apartment March 13, 2020, including the one the FBI later said killed Taylor.

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Cosgrove and Sgt. Jon Mattingly returned fire into her apartment after her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, thinking the couple were being robbed, fired one shot that hit Mattingly in the thigh.

Monday’s incident began when truck driver Charles White of Owenton said he saw a trailer he previously reported stolen, being pulled down a road behind a silver or blue pickup. He reported the sighing to the Carroll County sheriff’s office.

Meanwhile, Mobley, who was riding in the truck with Short and Short’s sister, Jessi, called 911 to report a man was following them waving a handgun out the window, and that he had fired at them.

White said in an interview Wednesday he was waving a cell phone, not a gun, and followed them to the trailer park, where they all lived.

Short was still in jail Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. But his sister and Mobley said Short was about to park his truck so he could talk to police when Cosgrove rammed him.

White said in an interview that Cosgrove was blocking an exit from the trailer park when Short rammed him.

Mobley and Jessi Short were both charged with disorderly conduct and menacing and released after a night in jail on a $1,000 bond. Other witnesses said the women were shouting at Cosgrove and calling him a murderer. The two women said Carrollton police, who came to back up Cosgrove, told them they were talking too much.

William Short was arraigned Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to five felonies including criminal mischief and wanton endangerment. His bond was set at $5,000 cash and he is set to appear Oct. 25 for a pretrial hearing.

In a citation, a state police officer said he was dispatched to Happy Hollow on a report of a “deputy being rammed and an individual at gunpoint.” The citation says upon investigation ‘it was determined that Cosgrove was responding to possible shots fired and possible stolen trailer being pulled by a silver truck and exiting the trailer park."

The citation says the truck turned one direction and Cosgrove the other when the vehicles collided. Cosgrove said he gave verbal commands for bystanders to back away.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Officer who killed Breonna Taylor rams car, pulls gun, witnesses say