One of the officers who was on the scene when authorities shot and killed Breonna Taylor in a botched no-knock warrant defended his actions.
Sgt. Jon Mattingly sent an email to about 1,000 Louisville Metro Police Department officers in the early hours of Tuesday morning. In the message, which was first reported by Vice News, he apologized to the department for the scrutiny it has faced since the death of Taylor, and he excoriated the mayor and police brass while also calling the protesters who have demanded their arrest “thugs.”
“I know we did the legal, moral and ethical thing that night. It’s sad how the good guys are demonized, and criminals are canonized,” he said, later claiming that officers “are just a pawn in the Mayor‘s political game” because he’s “proof they do not care about you or your family, and you are replaceable.”
The email, which had the subject line “URGENT PLEASE READ!!!!,” was sent days before a grand jury is expected to rule on whether to charge Mattingly, Myles Cosgrove, and Brett Hankison in Taylor’s death.
Taylor was shot eight times as the officers attempted to carry out a no-knock search warrant on March 13 to search her apartment for drugs, which they never found. Officers claim they announced their presence when they broke into the apartment, but neighbors and Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said they didn’t. Walker, who believed the apartment was being broken into, took his gun and fired a warning shot at the door. Officers responded by shooting into the apartment several times, killing Taylor.
Interim Chief of Police Robert Schroeder preemptively declared a state of emergency because Kentucky’s Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron is expected to announce whether the officers will be charged later this week.
Mattingly, in the email, referenced the upcoming announcement and said, “The next few days are going to be tough.” He encouraged his fellow officers to de-escalate situations so as not to give “the pencil pushes at the top, you know the ones who are too scared to hold the line, a reason to open investigations on you.”
The lawyer for Mattingly, who was shot during the incident, confirmed his client sent the email, according to the Daily Beast.
“As you know, Sgt. Mattingly was shot and severely wounded while serving this warrant,” Kent Wicker said. “Like our entire community, he is hopeful that this process moves forward quickly, and that his fellow officers and the people of Louisville remain safe.”
