Officer Involved in Breonna Taylor's Death Emails More Than 1,000 Cops Claiming, 'We Did the Legal, Moral and Ethical Thing That Night'
There’s a reason so many people hate cops. It’s not just the misconduct—the excessive force, extrajudicial executions, racial profiling and general harassment—it’s also the common cop attitude. It’s the smug disposition cops walk around with all day that says, “I’m the brave hero and only a vile criminal would disagree.”
On Tuesday, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, one of three officers involved in the botched raid that left Breonna Taylor dead in her home, responded to news that Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has presented evidence to a grand jury to decide whether to indict Mattingly and the other two officers who fatally shot Taylor, by writing the longest, whiniest, victim-blamey-est, caucasity filled email of blue lives nonsense and sent it to more than 1,000 of his colleagues.
New: LMPD Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly (who is being investigated as part of Breonna Taylor’s case) sent an email to around 1,000 officers at 2am that calls protestors thugs, complains about the government enforcing civil rights violations, and claims this is "good versus evil” pic.twitter.com/VcuyPDP790
— Roberto Aram Ferdman (@robferdman) September 22, 2020
Fortunately, the Courier-Journal has already transcribed Mattingly’s six-paragraph ode to police brutality so I don’t have to. I’ll just give you the highlights.
From the Journal:
You DO NOT DESERVE to be in this position. The position that allows thugs to get in your face and yell, curse and degrade you. Throw bricks, bottles and urine on you and expect you to do nothing. It goes against EVERYTHING we were all taught in the academy. The position that if you make a mistake during one of the most stressful times in your career, the department and FBI (who aren’t cops and would piss their pants if they had to hold the line) go after you for civil rights violations. Your civil rights mean nothing, but the criminal has total autonomy.
OK, I’m just going to stop you there, Officer Cop-on-the-cross. First of all, locking your keys in your car is a “mistake.” Executing a search warrant obtained through faulty information while hunting for someone who was already in custody and killing the resident of the home you should never have been in the first place, is something more—much more.
Secondly, I know you’re not actually trying to shade non-cops as people who would “piss their pants if they had to hold the line,” when “I was in fear for my life” is literally the go-to cop justification for shooting unarmed people. Cops sound like Courage the Cowardly Paw Patrol (I’m pretty sure that’s not right but it damn sure fits) every time they need to explain why they thought a cell phone was a gun and just started firing away. But please, tell us more about how everyone else is pissing their pants in the face of “danger” except you.
Lastly, what fucking world does Mattingly live in where criminals are granted “total autonomy” but cops have no rights? Besides the fact that he almost seems to be implying that Taylor was of the criminal element despite the abundance of evidence pointing towards her innocence, Mattingly appears to have forgotten a crucial thing: Being a cop shielded him from even potentially being held accountable for Taylor’s death for DAMN NEAR SIX FUCKING MONTHS before an indictment that might never happen was even considered. Can I as a civilian also force my way into a house because I suspect drug trafficking, shoot and kill the resident of said house, find no drugs and still go on about my business free and cleared of all wrongdoing?
This leads me to possibly the most egregious, rage-inducing line in Mattingly’s lengthy, pitiful-ass email: “Regardless of the outcome today or Wednesday, I know we did the legal, moral and ethical thing that night.”
Imagine leaving someone dead who you can’t even remotely prove committed a crime and considering yourself to be on the moral high ground. Also, four paragraphs ago it was a “mistake,” now it’s the ethical thing? Raggedy blue bitch, WHAT???
Then he followed that line by, once again, appearing to imply that he helped kill a criminal that night, not an innocent victim.
“It’s sad how the good guys are demonized, and criminals are canonized,” Mattingly wrote.
Shit, I’m so pissed off reading Mattingly’s bullshit I almost forgot to include arguably the biggest lie in his whole cop-aganda rant: “We as police DO NOT CARE if you are black, white, Hispanic, Asian, what you identify as …” Please tell me I don’t need to break down all the ways that is a whole crock of “I don’t see color” shit.
“This is not an us against society, but it is good versus evil,” this enormous blue ass hole continued. “We are sons, daughters, husbands, wives, part[n]ers, brothers, sisters, dads and moms. We are human beings with flaws, feelings and emotions.”
Fuck your feelings. Fuck your flaws. Fuck your emotions. The people cops kill unjustly are also sons, daughters, husbands and wives. Breonna—whose name Mattingly doesn’t mention even ONCE in this long-ass fuck shit-filled email—was someone’s daughter and sister. She was someone’s lover and friend. She may have been someone’s mother or wife one day. She was a person who should have had a long life ahead of her.
Mattingly, you got to go home alive that night. Fuck you.
