On Tuesday, one of the officers involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor sent out a mass email to about 1,000 of his colleagues in the Louisville Police Department in which he criticized Mayor Greg Fischer, Public Safety Chief Amy Hess and former Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad for “covering their own asses” during the investigation into the fatal shooting. According to the Louisville Courier Journal, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly apologized to his colleagues and their families, writing, “Remember you are just a pawn in the Mayors political game. I’m proof they do not care about you or your family, and you are replaceable. Stay safe and do the right thing. YOU ARE LOVED AND SUPPORTED by most of the community.” His mass email comes days before the results of an investigation into the shooting are expected to be released. The existence of the email was first reported by Vice News reporter Roberto Aram Ferdman.
Mattingly was among the three Louisville police officers—along with Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison—who fired their weapons into Taylor’s apartment in March while executing a “no-knock” search warrant. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, and multiple witnesses claim the officers did not identify themselves before entering the apartment. Louisville PD has stood by their version of events, and in audio recordings obtained by NBC News in July, Mattingly claimed that he knocked for 45 seconds before entering Taylor’s apartment, giving enough time for “the average person, or even a disabled person,” to answer. Following the shooting, Mattingly and Cosgrove were placed on administrative reassignment; Hankison, who was fired by the department for “blindly” firing his weapon, is contesting the decision. All three officers are now also under investigation by the department’s Professional Standards Unit for their role in both the shooting and use of a “no-knock” search warrant. In his email, Mattingly also attacked anti-police brutality protestors who’ve been marching across the country since late March, writing, “None of these ‘peaceful’ protesters are worth your career or freedom.” The police, he added, are now in a position “that allows thugs to get in your face and yell, curse and degrade you.”
Mattingly’s appeal to his fellow officers calls to mind “Blue Bloods: America’s Brotherhood of Police Officers,” an essay in Vanity Fair‘s September issue. Author and sociologist Eve Ewing argued that the organization of policing is one that is loyal only to its own interests and self-preservation as a singular unit. “In the brotherhood, there is no such thing as wrongful police action,” she wrote, “A member of the brotherhood cannot err any more than a dropped apple can fall toward the sky.” In his email, Mattingly urges his fellow officers to “do the right thing,” perhaps unaware of the irony in using a statement most recognized for being a call to action and made famous by the Spike Lee film of the same name, released after a summer of seemingly unending police violence in New York during the late ’80s.
With the state Attorney General Daniel Cameron expected to make an announcement this week on his investigation into the fatal shooting, federal buildings have begun to close, and according to CNN, “All scheduled in-court appearances will be continued or converted to video conference proceedings at the discretion of the presiding judge.” A state of emergency was also declared Tuesday morning and access to the city’s downtown is being restricted, possibly in anticipation of protests and fears of looting. In closing his email, Mattingly doubled down on his actions and those of colleagues saying, “Regardless of the outcome today or Wednesday, I know we did the legal, moral and ethical thing that night. It’s sad how the good guys are demonized, and the criminals are canonized.”
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