Cop Who Fatally Shot Breonna Taylor Trying To Get His Job Back

Former Louisville Metro Police detective Myles Cosgrove, who fatally shot Breonna Taylor, and his legal team argue he deserves to be reinstated in hearings that started on Tuesday.

Cosgrove is the officer the FBI concluded was the one who fired the fatal shot that ended Taylor’s life. The department then fired him on Jan. 5, 2021, for not “properly [identifying] a target” as he shot 16 rounds into Taylor’s apartment, according to USA Today. He submitted his appeal to the Merit Board by Jan. 10 and the hearings began on Tuesday that will determine whether they reinstate him.

However, the former interim police chief Yvette Gentry stands by her decision, she told the Police Merit board Wednesday.

“I had no faith I could put a gun and badge back in his hands . . . He reacted so poorly under stress that … I didn't have any confidence to put him back out there as a police officer,” Gentry said.

It is rare to have officers fired for actions in the line of duty, even if those actions result in someone’s death, but Gentry is still confident in her decision and claims politics played no role in her making that choice.

Cosgrove’s legal team argues that he protected himself and his fellow officers and that his actions fell in line with the line of duty. However, from the story he told he could not see or hear anything clearly as he fired his shots, describing seeing a “shadowy” figure and being deafened by gunshots. He also could not clearly say how many times he fired his weapon, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

“There's questions about articulation. There's questions about memory, questions about trajectory and things like that that all and have been adequately addressed throughout this case to show that his actions — every one of those — were reasonable under the circumstances,” said attorney Scott Miller.

“If you're not seeing and you're not hearing . . . you don't shoot . . . The violation of the policy is that he fired 16 rounds that he can't speak to, and Breonna Taylor received one of those fatal rounds," Gentry said in response to Cosgrove’s legal team’s claims.

Three other officers who were fired due to poor judgment and even lying in an affidavit over Taylor’s death have also appealed to have their jobs reinstated with varying degrees of success. Some of the officers have yet to see their day in court for potential criminal charges. Cosgrove’s hearings will continue into December and then a decision by the board will be made.