One of the officers at the center of the trial surrounding the killing of Breonna Taylor has been fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department. The chief said it was not an easy decision to terminate the sergeant but did so after careful consideration.
On Friday, Aug. 19, Chief Erika Shields released a statement confirming the termination of Sgt. Kyle Meany.
“I made the decision to terminate Sergeant Kyle Meany after careful consideration and not with ease,” she wrote in a statement obtained by CBS News. “I fully respect the judicial process and realize Sergeant Meany has yet to be heard before a jury of his peers.”
She continued, “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.”
His release comes days after his pre-termination meeting.
Meany joined the department in 2013, and at one point was assigned to supervise the now-disbanded Place-Based Investigations unit, the division that secured the search warrant used to raid Taylor’s home, and four others also included in a more expansive narcotics investigation. These warrants all had “no-knock” clauses.
With less than a decade attributed to his career, his chief said he brought disgrace to himself and the department.
In a letter to Meany, she stated, according to the Courier-Journal, “Your actions have brought discredit upon yourself and the department.”
“Your conduct has adversely affected the morale, operations, and/or efficiency of the department,” Shields continued. “Your conduct has severely damaged the image of our department within the community.”
One of four other ex-cops connected to the botched March 2020 raid that resulted in Taylor’s death, Meany has been indicted with his colleague Joshua James and is set to go to trial on Oct. 11 to face federal charges. Meany and Jaynes are accused of falsifying an affidavit in order to get a search warrant for Taylor’s apartment.
The two other former officers wrangled in charges are Brett Hankison and Kelly Goodlett.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said that Jaynes and Goodlett are accused of conspiring to cover up the first lie initiated by Meany, meeting up in a garage to discuss how they were going to proceed with a plan to clear them of any wrongdoing in the 26-year-old’s death. They are charged with unlawful conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
After being indicted, Meany pleaded not guilty to federal charges that alleged he deprived anyone of their rights or gave a false statement to federal investigators.
Hankison is charged for shooting blindly into Taylor’s home the night of her death.
Goodlett resigned from the department after being charged in U.S. district court in August. Her lawyers said she will enter a plea on Monday, Aug. 22.
Jaynes and Hankison were previously fired by the Louisville Metro Police Department.
Taylor’s death, along with those of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, were critical to the summer of civil unrest that swept America in 2020. The 26-year-old EMT worker was shot on Mar. 13, 2020, after LPD officers wrongfully raided her apartment after bad intel said she was receiving mail and Amazon packages for a former boyfriend.
As she and her current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, slept in her bedroom, the officers came in and disturbed their sleep. Walker, believing an intruder was in the home, pulled out his gun and shot in the room, striking one officer in the leg. At that point, the officers participating in the raid fired 22 bullets into the apartment. One of five that hir her struck her directly in the chest, killing her.
The misleading information that was used to get the warrant approved was given by Meany to law enforcement — an act that positioned him for termination before his trial.
Meany can appeal his termination. He would have to approach the Police Merit Board and plead his case. The PMB rarely overturns decisions to fire officers.
