The police officer who was fired after he shot and killed Breonna Taylor in her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment in 2020, has been hired as a deputy in a neighboring county, according to media reports.
Myles Cosgrove has been hired by the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, which serves a rural area around 50 miles from Louisville, Chief Deputy Robert Miller told The Courier-Journal.
“We think he will help reduce the flow of drugs in our area and reduce property crimes,” Miller said. “We felt like he was a good candidate to help us in our county.”
Cosgrove was one of seven Louisville police officers involved in a bungled “no-knock” raid on Taylor’s apartment where Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, was killed.
Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were asleep in their bedroom when police broke in the door in a raid that was part of a drug investigation.
Walker said he believed someone was breaking into the apartment and fired a shot from his handgun, striking an officer in the leg. Police returned 32 shots, half of which were fired by Cosgrove, according to FBI ballistics testing, WFPL reported.
Two of Cosgrove’s rounds struck Taylor and killed her.
[ Breonna Taylor investigation: DOJ finds Louisville police violated civil rights ]
Cosgrove was not charged in Taylor’s death, with officials saying Cosgrove was justified in using deadly force when police came under fire from Walker.
However, in January 2021, Cosgrove was fired by the Louisville Police Department because he violated the department’s use-of-force procedures and he failed to activate his body camera.
[ Breonna Taylor case: Kentucky AG says he didn’t present homicide charges to grand jury ]
Miller said that Cosgrove passed a sheriff’s office background check, the Journal reported. He also cited Cosgrove’s two decades of law enforcement experience and said that Cosgrove’s police certification was never revoked.
Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, in an emotional interview on CNN had a warning for the residents in the area where Cosgrove will be working.
Asked what she would say to those who live in Carroll County, Palmer answered “Take cover.”