Two Louisville officers connected to the Breonna Taylor’s fatal shooting have officially been fired. Both Detective Myles Cosgrove and Detective Joshua Jaynes were relieved of their duties on Tuesday (Jan. 5).
Cosgrove was terminated for failing to activate his body camera during the incident. According to Interim police chief Yvette Gentry, he was also let go for violating departmental procedures for his use of deadly force as he failed to “properly identify a target” when he fired 16 rounds into Taylor’s home.
Jaynes was not present when at the scene on the night Taylor died, but he sought the warrant that authorized the raid.
Jaynes initially claimed he’d verified through USPS inspector that Taylor’s ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover — a drug trafficking suspect — was receiving mail at her apartment, but later admitted he obtained information from a fellow officer. He was terminated for lying as well as his failure to complete a Search Warrant Operations Plan form.
Despite the firings, both detectives can challenge the dismissal. Jaynes reportedly plans to appeal to a city board that reviews police terminations, according to his attorney Thomas Clay.
“He’s being made a scapegoat,” Clay told NBC News. “There is a culpability, if there is any culpability, it goes to the highest levels of Louisville metro government. He did nothing wrong. Joshua Jaynes did nothing wrong.”
Jaynes and Cosgrove’s termination comes days after both detectives received pre-termination letters.
As REVOLT previously reported, Taylor was shot and killed back in March by officers who entered her apartment to serve a no-knock search warrant in a drug case. Neither of the officers were charged for her death, but Brett Hankison was indicted on three wanton endangerment charges for blindly firing 10 shots into Taylor’s home and and recklessly endangering Taylor’s neighbors. He was fired by the Lousiville Metro Police Department back in June.