Breonna Taylor Case: Disciplinary Records Released For Police Found To Be ‘Heavily Redacted’
Breonna Taylor was fatally shot in her own apartment seven months ago and additional disciplinary records have finally been released about the police officers involved in the 26-year-old’s death.
The Courier Journal, however, reports that the records, which are known as the Professional Standards Unit and Public Integrity Unit case files, “are so heavily redacted that the incidents they describe are virtually indecipherable.” Out of more than 1,600 pages, 150 were covered by large black rectangles.
Michael Abate, a First Amendment attorney in Louisville who represents The Courier Journal, said about the records, "This is, unfortunately, part of a culture that is so resistant to transparency in any form that even when they think they're being transparent, they're in fact hiding the substance of the documents that they're releasing.”
He also said it was "egregious" that it took so long for the Louisville Metro Police Department to release the record.
The records revealed many minor infractions like misspeallings.One detail was a previously reported 2006 shooting that involved Det. Myles Cosgrove and a man named Arthur Satterly. Satterly was injured but the shooting was found to be justified due to self-defense. Satterly sued, “alleging excessive force, but a judge sided with Cosgrove,” The Courier Journal reports.
On Sept. 23, the grand jury returned three counts of “wanton endangerment” in the first degree against former officer Brett Hankinson for firing into another apartment. A $15,000 cash bond was also attached to the charges. The other two officers, Sgt. John Mattingly and Det. Myles Cosgrove, were not charged and remain on the police force. Hankinson was fired in July.
After midnight on March 13, Hankison, Cosgrove and Mattingly executed a “no-knock” warrant at Taylor's apartment which she shared with Walker. Believing they were intruders, Walker fired his weapon and gunfire from the officers ensued. The 26-year old Taylor was struck six times and died. Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron claimed the warrant was not a no-knock and the police announced themselves prior to entering the apartment.
Daniel Cameron is opposing a gag order from the grand jurors being lifted after two members sought legal assistance to allow them to go public with their stories. Taylor’s family is asking Cameron to recuse himself from the case.
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