Myles Cosgrove and Joshua Jaynes.Photo: Louisville Metro Police Department
After not being charged criminally for their roles in the botched police raid that resulted inBreonna Taylor’s killing, two Louisville Metro Police Department detectives have been fired.
The news that Myles Cosgrove and Joshua Jaynes lost their jobs comes on the same day the department announced the name of its newest chief — Erika Shields, the former Atlanta police chief who stepped down in June after one of her officers fatally shot a Black man.
PEOPLE was unable to reach Cosgrove and Jaynes for comment.
Jaynes, according to investigators, sought the “no-knock” search warrant served on Taylor’s home, while the FBI concluded Cosgrove was the one who fired the shot that killed the aspiring nurse who was working in Kentucky as an emergency room technician.
Taylor, 26,had been working on the frontlines of the coronavirusin the pandemic’s early stages.
Both Jaynes, who is accused of violating policy for truthfulness and search warrant preparation, and Cosgrove, who allegedly failed to activate his body camera prior to the shooting, were served with pre-termination paperwork last month, according tothe Courier-Journal.
The shooting led to months of protests and made Taylor a face of the Black Lives Matter movement.
A third detective, Brett Hankison, was fired in June for firing “blindly” into Taylor’s apartment.
Breonna Taylor.Instagram
According tothe Courier-Journal, Cosgrove sent out an email Tuesday to fellow officers, chastising the department’s leadership for kowtowing to “political pressures.”
In the email, he allegedly warned that city leaders were not “afraid to perform hatchet jobs on you either.”
“Think about that next time you put on the uniform and badge,” the paper quotes from Cosgrove’s email. “For those of you still doing real police work, it’s just a matter of time till you (too) will be a sacrificial lamb. I plead with you, do nothing.”
Each officer met with the outgoing chief ahead of their dismissals, and provided an opportunity to state their cases.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Under Kentucky state law and their union contract, Cosgrove and Jaynes can appeal their firings within 10 days to the Police Merit Board. They could also appeal the board’s decision, if they uphold the terminations.
Also on Wednesday, Shields was introduced as the department’s new head.
She stepped down as Atlanta’s police chief June 13, hours after one of her officers shot and killedRayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man.
To help combat systemic racism, consider learning from or donating to these organizations:
• Campaign Zero (joincampaignzero.org) which works to end police brutality in America through research-proven strategies.
•ColorofChange.orgworks to make government more responsive to racial disparities.
source: people.com
