Nearly three months after Breonna Taylor was fatally shot in her home by the Louisville police, none of the officers involved have been charged or arrested. Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old EMT who was fatally shot to death on March 13, in her apartment by the Louisville Metro Police. Circuit Judge Mary Shaw issued the police officers a no-knock warrant, which allowed the police to enter Taylor’s apartment without identifying themselves. She was shot eight times; however, the incident report does not reflect that. The four-page incident report is mostly blank and lists her injuries as “none.”
The report redacts Taylor’s address and date of birth. It also incorrectly states that there was no forced entry (box checked “no”), even though officers forcibly entered Taylor’s apartment by using a battering ram after obtaining a “no-knock” search warrant as part of a narcotics investigation. The officers claimed that they announced their presence; however, Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker shot first in self-defense, striking one of the officers in the leg because he thought someone was breaking into their house. The officers returned fire, killing Taylor.
Under a section for notes on the incident, the report only lists that it is under internal investigation. It also omits most identifying details about the three officers involved in Taylor’s death, and the rest of the report is pretty much blank. The three officers involved in the incident, Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly, officers Brett Hankinson, and Myles Cosgrove, have all been reassigned. The detective Joshua Jaynes who requested the warrant was also reassigned.
A copy of the incident report can be found here.
https://www.scribd.com/ document/465105285/Breonna-Taylor-Incident-Report#from_embed
Regarding the errors in the incident report, the police department acknowledged the errors and said it was the result of the reporting program creating a paper file. They issued a statement and said, “Inaccuracies in the report are unacceptable to us, and we are taking immediate steps to correct the report and to ensure the accuracy of incident reports going forward.”
In a statement to the Courier-Journal, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer also issued a statement. “Full stop. It’s issues like this that erode public confidence in LMPD’s ability to do its job, and that’s why I’ve ordered an external top-to-bottom review of the department,” Fischer said. “I am sorry for the additional pain to the Taylor family and our community.”
Kelly Washington is a freelance writer and blogger living on the southside of Chicago. You can follow her on social media @ Sunrise and Sugar (Facebook).