After being discharged from the Louisville Police Department for his involvement in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, the former officer found work as a sheriff’s deputy in a small town in rural Kentucky.
After being fired from the Louisville Police Department in 2021 for a violation of the department’s use-of-force policy, Cosgrove began working as a sheriff’s deputy at the beginning of this year. There was a minor demonstration outside the county courthouse in April about his hiring because of his involvement in the death of Taylor.
During a failed raid in 2020, Cosgrove was one of two officers whose shots hit Taylor, a Black emergency medical technician. After an investigation by the FBI concluded that Cosgrove was responsible for the fatal shot, he was removed from his position as a Louisville police officer for breaching the department’s use of force standards.
Witnesses said on Monday, Cosgrove slammed a suspect’s truck and then pointed a gun at the man. The local sheriff said the incident was accidental and his actions were warranted since he was confronted by at least five angry persons immediately following the collision, but those accounts contradicted his claims.
Sheriff Ryan Gosser said Thursday that Cosgrove was on a call in a mobile home park on Monday. According to Gosser, the trailer’s owner had seen it hitched to the suspect’s truck, pursued it to the neighborhood, and then called the police.
Some witnesses at the scene contested Gosser’s account that Cosgrove’s sheriff’s vehicle “accidentally” collided with the suspect’s truck as the truck was trying to exit the area.
In an interview on Thursday, Gosser remarked, “That was an accident.” He justified Cosgrove’s conduct following the collision, which he said included drawing and pointing his gun at individuals.
Cosgrove drew his revolver after colliding with the suspect on Monday, pointing it at the white man and others who were approaching him “aggressively,” as stated by Gosser and the state police report. There was a “crowd of folks screaming and causing a disturbance,” according to another responding officer. Police eventually located the stolen trailer close by. According to Gosser, the suspect discarded it before meeting up with Cosgrove.
On Monday, a witness stated he saw Cosgrove start the wreck.
Gosser reported that the suspect had sped off from the neighborhood. After colliding with the truck, Cosgrove’s patrol car went on to hit a parked vehicle.
The truck’s driver was one of three people apprehended on Monday; he faces charges of endangering a police officer, criminal mischief, and eluding authorities. Two additional females faced charges of rowdy conduct as well.
Gosser mentioned Cosgrove’s good character and the fact that he was never criminally charged in connection with the Taylor case when he hired him back in April.
