LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More than two years after the killing of Breonna Taylor, a fourth Louisville Metro Police officer has been fired in connection with the March 2020 raid on her apartment.
Sgt. Kyle Meany, who joined the department in 2013, was terminated after meeting with Chief Erika Shields, the department announced Friday. The termination comes two weeks after Meany and three other former officers were indicted by a federal grand jury on various charges, largely relating to the search warrant that allowed officers to break in to Taylor’s apartment.
“I made the decision to terminate Sgt. Kyle Meany after careful consideration and not with ease,” Shields said in a statement provided Friday through a police spokeswoman. “I fully respect the judicial process and realize Sgt. Meany has yet to be heard before a jury of his peers. That being said, he is facing multiple federal charges after a lengthy investigation by the DOJ. As an employer, the character of our organization is paramount and it is not reasonable to expect continued employment under such conditions.”
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Why Meany was fired
Meany is accused of knowing the affidavit used to obtain the warrant was based on false information. His attorney, Brian Butler, said he is “not going to comment on any aspect of this case.”
“Your actions have brought discredit upon yourself and the department,” Shields wrote in a letter to Meany to begin the termination process last week. The letter cited his federal case as grounds for dismissal for violating police policy.
“Your conduct has adversely affected the morale, operations and/or efficiency of the department,” Shields also wrote, using standard language sometimes used in termination letters for other personnel. “… Your conduct has severely damaged the image of our department within the community.”
Meany can appeal his termination to the Police Merit Board, which has a track record of rarely overturning firing decisions.
Meany supervised the since-disbanded Place-Based Investigations unit, which had secured the warrant for Taylor’s home along with four others as part of a larger narcotics investigation. Each warrant included “no-knock” clauses.
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Meany has pleaded not guilty after being indicted on federal charges of deprivation of rights and giving a false statement to federal investigators.
The indictment alleges that Meany knew the affidavit used to get a warrant to search Taylor’s home included false, misleading and out-of-date information. He approved the warrant despite this knowledge and despite knowing the warrant would be executed by other officers, creating a dangerous situation, the indictment says.
His second charge of providing false information is related to the entry of Taylor’s home. Meany allegedly told FBI investigators that the police department’s SWAT unit had asked for no-knock authority, when no such request had been made.
After the federal indictments, Louisville police announced the department had started the termination process for Meany and Detective Kelly Ann Goodlett, who retired the following day.
Meany is the fourth officer to be fired in relation to Taylor’s case.
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Former Detective Brett Hankison was the first to be fired by the department in June 2020. He had worked for the department for about 17 years when he shot 10 rounds into Taylor’s apartment through a covered glass door and window during the raid.
Three of those rounds traveled into an adjacent apartment with a man, pregnant woman and 5-year-old child inside, and he was subsequently charged with three counts of wanton endangerment by a state grand jury.
He was ultimately found not guilty in March, but is now facing federal charges. Meanwhile, he was fired after a former interim chief called the rounds he shot “a shock to the conscience.” He appealed his firing to the Police Merit Board, but the appeal hearing was set aside until criminal proceedings concluded.
Hankison shot into the neighboring apartment, “without a lawful objective justifying the use of deadly force,” said Kristin Clarke, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said during a news conference last week alongside U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in Washington, D.C.
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In January 2021, two more officers were fired.
Myles Cosgrove was fired by former interim Chief Yvette Gentry for failing to “properly identify a target” when he shot 16 times into Taylor’s apartment. He also failed to use a body camera during the raid. He has filed a lawsuit appealing his termination.
He has not been charged criminally in relation to the case. Taylor was shot six times during the raid and Cosgrove fired the fatal bullet to her chest, according to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s investigation.
Former Detective Joshua Jaynes also was fired in January 2021 for inserting what Gentry found to be an untruthful statement in his sworn affidavit for the warrant to search Taylor’s apartment.
The federal charges against him include deprivation of rights, conspiracy and falsification of records in an FBI investigation.
The indictment accuses Jayne of depriving Taylor of her constitutional rights by knowingly including false, misleading and out-of-date information in the affidavit used to obtain the warrant to search her home. Additionally, the affidavit in support of the search warrant omitted material information, and officers lacked probable cause for the search, according to the indictment.
The indictment alleges that after the raid, he continued his attempts to cover up his lies by conspiring with another detective and pressuring other officers to support his story.
His third federal charge is that he continued reiterating this false information in an official investigative letter given to investigators on May 1, 2020.
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