Meet Myles Cosgrove. You might remember his face from the 2021 killing of Breonna Taylor who died when cops opened fire during a Louisville narcotics raid. Forensics believes one of his rounds killed the young woman. Mr. Cosgrove fired 16 rounds into the tiny apartment after Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot at what he thought was home invaders.
They were home invaders, but they had a warrant. A faulty warrant, but a warrant nevertheless.
Cops brazenly charged the boyfriend but charges were later dropped against him. The cops on the other hand, faced investigations and some were even criminally charged.
After a long investigation, Cosgrove was not charged and his law enforcement certification was not revoked.
And now, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office nearby has hired Cosgrove. Talk about an epic fail in not only public relations, but in common sense.
This doesn’t seem like a smart move on the part of Carroll County Sheriff Ryan Gosser.
The Carroll County Sheriff’s Department is a very small department – maybe as small as five deputies, a chief deputy and the sheriff. It’s a very small department. Which means when “Deputy” Cosgrove is working, backup won’t be very close.
First off, Cosgrove no doubt still has people who would love to get their moment of fame dumping a “switched” Glock into Cosgrove. Every deputy in that department in a marked squad car just got a bullseye painted on them. Secondly, from the public relations standpoint, why invite this sort of divisive candidate into your department? Even if you think Myles Cosgrove exercised good discretion and restraint in the Taylor incident…
From the AP via TTAG:
A Louisville police officer who fired the fatal shot that killed Breonna Taylor has a new job in law enforcement in a county northeast of the city.
The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday confirmed the hiring of Myles Cosgrove, who was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department in January 2021 for violating use-of-force procedures and failing to use a body camera during the raid on Taylor’s apartment, WHAS-TV reported.
A protest in Carroll County was planned Monday in response to his hiring.
Investigators said that Cosgrove fired 16 rounds into the apartment after Taylor’s front door was breached during a narcotics raid on March 13, 2020. Thinking an intruder was breaking in, Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, thinking the break-in was a home invasion, fired a shot from a handgun at the officers. Officer Jonathan Mattingly was struck in the leg, and the officers returned fire, killing Taylor in her hallway. Attempted murder charges filed against Walker were later dropped.
An FBI investigation determined that Cosgrove and Mattingly struck Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman, and that Cosgrove likely fired the fatal shot. Neither officer was charged by a 2020 state grand jury in Taylor’s death, and a two-year investigation by the FBI also cleared Cosgrove and Mattingly of any charges.
The FBI probe found that other superior officers had crafted a faulty drug warrant that contained false information about Taylor. U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland said in August that the officers who went to Taylor’s apartment with the warrant “were not involved in drafting the warrant affidavit and were not aware that it was false.”
Most of us can sympathize with a dearth of qualified candidates seeking law enforcement jobs. At the same time, just because someone is eligible for hire doesn’t make hiring them the best course of action.
I would not want him working in my city.