Cops fired over Breonna Taylor raid may be banned from working in law enforcement in Kentucky

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Louisville Metro Police officers who were fired for their roles in the fatal raid on Breonna Taylor's apartment could be banned from working in law enforcement in Kentucky.

The Kentucky Law Enforcement Council (KLEC) will soon begin an investigation into former officers Brett Hankison, Myles Cosgrove and Joshua Jaynes, a spokesperson for the council told WDRB News. The council will decide whether to pull those officers' certifications after findings from the investigation are presented in August, the spokesperson said.

Without those certifications, Hankison, Cosgrove and Jaynes cannot serve as law enforcement officers in the Bluegrass State.

The KLEC holds certifications for every law enforcement officer in Kentucky. A recent change in state law requires police departments to notify the council when an officer is fired for misconduct.

A bullet hole in a window to Breonna Taylor's apartment — A photo taken by Louisville Metro Police investigators after the early-morning March 13 raid on Breonna Taylor's apartment.

Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was shot and killed when officers served a search warrant at her apartment around 1 a.m. March 13, 2020, to look for money and drugs as part of a broader narcotics investigation. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, has said he thought the officers were intruders and fired a single shot when they used a battering ram to break down the apartment door. His shot hit Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the leg.

The officers combined to return 32 shots, and Taylor was hit six times and died in her hallway. No drugs or money were found at the apartment, according to a police inventory log.

Hankison was fired in June 2020 for "blindly" shooting 10 rounds into a patio door and window of the residence, former interim Chief Robert Schroeder said in Hankison's termination letter. He had pleaded not guilty to three county of felony wanton endangerment for firing into an apartment neighboring Taylor's.

"I find your conduct a shock to the conscience," Schroeder wrote in Hankison's termination letter. "I am alarmed and stunned you used deadly force in this fashion."

Brett Hankison at courthouse 3-25-21.jpeg — Former Louisville Metro Police Detective Brett Hankison during a change of venue hearing in Jefferson County on Thursday, March 25, 2021. (WDRB photo)

Cosgrove, who Attorney General Daniel Cameron said fired the bullet that killed Taylor, and Jaynes, who sought the warrant for the apartment, were fired in January 2021 by then-interim Chief Yvette Gentry.

In Cosgrove's termination letter, Gentry indicated that his employment was being terminated for violations of standard operating procedures related to the use of deadly force and for failing activate his body camera before the incident.

Cosgrove violated the department's use-of-force policy for shooting "sixteen rounds into the apartment without positively identifying" the person who fired at officers, Gentry said in an internal memo WDRB News obtained Tuesday.

LMPD Detective Myles Cosgrove — Former Louisville Metro Police Detective Myles Cosgrove. (Photo courtesy of LMPD)

Jaynes was fired for violations of standard operating procedures related to the preparation for search warrant execution and for being "untruthful" in his request for a search warrant on Taylor's apartment — specifically when when he said he verified through a U.S. Postal Inspector that a suspect, Jamarcus Glover, had been receiving suspicious packages at the apartment.

"You failed to mention the information used was not verified specifically by you," Gentry wrote. "You did not have contact with a U.S. Postal Inspector. You did not 'verify' this statement you swore to in the affidavit."

Louisville police were repeatedly told there were no packages, "suspicious or otherwise," delivered to Taylor's apartment in connection to a drug investigation centered around Glover, according to testimony in an internal LMPD report.

"I acknowledge that you believe you prepared the search warrant in good faith," Gentry wrote in Jayne's termination letter. "However, you failed to inform the judge that you had no contact with the U.S. Postal Inspector. Your sworn information was not only inaccurate; it was not truthful."

Former Louisville Metro Police Detective Joshua Jaynes. (Photo courtesy of LMPD)

Hankison, Cosgrove and Jaynes have all appealed their terminations.

None of the officers who fired their weapons during the raid on Taylor's apartment were charged in connection with her death. In September 2020, the city of Louisville agreed to pay Taylor's family $12 million and implement numerous reforms in the police department to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.