On Wednesday, nearly 90 days after three plainclothes Louisville Metropolitan Police officers barged into 26-year-old Breonna Taylor’s apartment, shooting her eight times, LMPD finally released the incident report from the night of her killing.
As the Louisville Courier Journal reports, the document was almost completely blank. And the little information it does contain includes outright lies.
“It lists her injuries as ‘none,’ even though she was shot at least eight times and died on her hallway floor in a pool of blood,” writes the Courier Journal, citing attorneys for Taylor’s family. The report also says that there was no forced entry, despite the fact police used a battering ram to break down Taylor’s door.
The section marked “narrative”—where officers had a chance to explain, in detail, why their drug raid that night ended with Taylor’s death—is reduced to a short note: “PIU investigation.”
At best, the report shows a stunning, dangerous level of incompetence at the LMPD. At worst, the glaring omissions point toward a cover-up: dodging accountability by committing little to paper.
LMPD said the errors in the report were due to the reporting program.
“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,” the department said in a statement.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer took a harsher tone, calling the report “unacceptable” and citing it as an example of why public trust in the police has eroded.
The Courier Journal, which is suing LMPD for the release of its investigative file of Taylor’s fatal shooting, also spoke out about the report. A counsel for the local paper called the document “proof that LMPD continues to make a mockery of transparency.”
Despite weeks of protests over Taylor’s killing, no actions have been taken aside from reassigning the three narcotics officers who executed the “no-knock” search warrant at her home. The March 13 raid was part of an investigation into two alleged drug dealers who lived more than 10 miles away from Taylor. Police claimed that Taylor was helping traffic drugs by accepting packages for an ex-boyfriend, despite the Louisville postal inspector telling WDRB “no packages of interest” were sent to Taylor’s home.
Police accounts of the raid also conflict with those of Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who says he mistook the officers for intruders because they did not announce themselves before forcefully entering her apartment. LMPD claims the three officers, Sgt. John Mattingly, Myles Cosgrove, and Brett Hankison, announced their presence despite obtaining the “no-knock” warrant. Walker, who shot back at the plainclothes officers, was initially charged with attempted murder of a police officer. Those charges were dismissed last month.
Mattingly, Hankison (who is currently also facing a sexual assault investigation), and Cosgrove have been on administrative reassignment since the investigation into her death began. This week, LMPD announced that the detective who requested the warrant, Joshua Jaynes, was also reassigned.