3 More Louisville Metro Cops Under Investigation for Role in Breonna Taylor's Death
The Louisville Metro Police Department announced on Monday that its Professional Standards Unit is currently investigating six officers for their role in Breonna Taylor’s death.
The Courier Journal reports the unit, which investigates whether officers have violated department policies, has launched a probe into the case. Should the officers be found to have violated department police they could face disciplinary action that ranges from receiving a write-up to being terminated. The LMPD did not say what policies they believe the officers may have violated.
“Due to state law, investigators are prevented from [discussing] crucial aspects of the investigation until the criminal case is complete, department spokeswoman Jessie Halladay said.
It should be noted that this is a different investigation from the one conducted by the Public Integrity Unit. That investigation, which forwarded its findings to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, was to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against the officers involved in the shooting. Cameron has yet to provide a timeline on when that decision will be made.
Detective Myles Cosgrove and Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, who fired their guns at Taylor’s home, were under investigation by the Public Integrity Unit, as was detective Joshua Jaynes, the man who swore out the warrant to search Taylor’s home. All three are being investigated by the Professional Standards Unit, as are detectives Tony James, Michael Campbell and Michael Nobles. All six officers, save for Jaynes, were present at Taylor’s home when the warrant was being carried out.
From the Courier Journal:
Campbell, who had been tasked with surveilling Taylor’s apartment before the raid, is a member of the Place-Based Investigations Unit that conducted the probe that led police to Taylor’s apartment.
Nobles and James were members of the criminal Interdiction Squad, according to a log provided by LMPD that showed officers’ sworn assignments on March 13.
The officers at Taylor’s apartment said they knocked on her door and announced their presence. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, however, says he and Taylor didn’t know who was knocking at the door.
When police broke down the front door of the apartment, Walker fired one shot from his firearm, which police say struck Mattingly in the thigh, severing his femoral artery.
Three officers — Mattingly, Cosgrove and detective Brett Hankison, who was fired in June — returned fire, striking Taylor five times.
She died in her hallway.
Kentucky law states that “no public statements shall be made concerning the alleged violation by any person or persons of the consolidated local government or the police officer so charged, until final disposition of the charges,” when it comes to investigations into policy violations by police officers.
James, who’s currently being investigated by the PSU, came under controversy when a picture taken of him following the shooting shows a body camera on the right shoulder of his vest. Former LMPD police chief Steve Conrad said at a press conference following Taylor’s shooting that there was no footage from the shooting due to “no body-worn video cameras.” It is unclear whether James had his body camera active or not during the shooting.
