Former LMPD officer who fatally shot Breonna Taylor says Brett Hankison's actions were 'unfathomably dangerous'

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Former Louisville Metro Police officer Myles Cosgrove testified Friday that Brett Hankison's actions the night Breonna Taylor was killed were "unfathomably dangerous."

Cosgrove — now employed as a sheriff's deputy in Carroll County — fired 16 shots that night.

"I had to use deadly force that evening," he testified. "I had to see a fellow officer shot that evening. Very traumatic."

The charges stem from the raid of Taylor's home in the middle of the night in which police officers busted down her door to serve a search warrant related to a drug dealer who lived 10 miles away. When police broke town the door, Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot that hit former Sgt. John Mattingly in the leg. Walker said he believed the couple were being robbed.

Multiple LMPD officers returned fire, killing Taylor, 26. Cosgrove fired the fatal shots.

No drugs were found in her home.

Within seconds after the shooting stopped, Cosgrove said he started heading back to the parking lot and knew Mattingly needed medical attention. Cosgrove said as he was moving away, he saw muzzle flashes off to his left coming from the parking lot. He said he was "concerned, shocked and upset" once he learned it was another officer that was shooting those shots from the parking lot.

Cosgrove, who worked for LMPD for 15 years, said it's dangerous to shoot through covered windows. When they arrived to carry out the raid, Cosgrove said he couldn't see inside Taylor's apartment because there was a drape over the sliding glass door.

"The core value of a police man is to protect," he said. "To haphazardly fire into an unknown area, I can't think of a scenario where I would do that. It's unfathomably dangerous to do that."

Cosgrove said those memories will stay with him for the rest of his life. He said it was made clear to them that Glover wasn't at Taylor's apartment and he didn't know her name until prior to the raid.

"It's so powerful to have taken someone's life," Cosgrove told jurors. "The outcome ... it's horribly powerful that I had to do that. It's not an outcome that I wanted. There's not a day that I don't think about.

"It's tough to have to live with that. If I had all the facts that I know now, the outcome would be different. ... What I did was justified, protecting my life and John's life ... I can live with that ... but the outcome is the least desirable thing I could imagine."

Hankison, 47, was indicted i n August 2022 on two charges of deprivation of rights for firing into a bedroom window in Taylor's apartment that was covered with blinds and a blackout curtain after "there was no longer a lawful objective justifying the use of deadly force," according to the indictment.

If convicted, he faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.

'I can't just stand there and be shot'

Cosgrove said Mattingly began knocking on the door "like a pizza delivery driver." He said Hankison got into a verbal shouting match with a neighbor of the apartment.

Cosgrove said they then used a battering ram to open the door. He said they were met with a gunshot inside the apartment and saw a muzzle flash. Cosgrove said after the muzzle flash, he saw a "silhouetted shape" of a person directly in front of him.

"It's hard to explain how quickly an event like this has happened," Cosgrove said. "... I can't just stand there and be shot."

He said Mattingly fell back into him.

"There's no doubt that I knew John had been shot," Cosgrove said.

Cosgrove said he fired his weapon to defend himself and "defend John." He claimed that Mattingly did the same thing.

"We are simultaneously engaging this threat that was in front of us," Cosgrove said.

A federal prosecutor asked Cosgrove if he was scared.

"Yes," he said. "I had to use deadly force and I had someone dying at my feet."

LMPD Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey was also called to the stand to testify Friday. The defense claimed Hankison didn't go through the same training as most LMPD officers, but Humphrey replied that he was trained on the same fundamentals. The defense said under LMPD's use of force policy from 2020, officers are able to use deadly force when they perceive there is a threat to human life, including the life of an officer.

Humphrey referenced the mass shooting at Old National Bank as an example. He said even after officer Nickolas Wilt was shot, the other responding officer waited to fire back at the shooter until he could identify him as a target.

Taylor's sister, Juniyah Palmer, was also called to the stand. She said she was in San Diego at the time of the shooting and learned her sister was killed from her mother hours after the shooting.

To follow along with Hayden Ristevski on the trial, click here.

This story will be updated.

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Former LMPD officer who fatally shot Breonna Taylor says Brett Hankison's actions were 'unfathomably dangerous'