Episode 18 – Inside the Breonna Taylor Case – Critical Incident Review with Sgt. John Mattingly
Description
My guest today is John Mattingly. John is a retired Sgt from the Louisville Police Department who led the search warrant
service at the home of Breonna Taylor on March 13, 2020 and was shot in the leg by her boyfriend Kenneth Walker
before returning fire along with another officer resulting in the death of Ms. Taylor. This event, of course, became a
huge catalytic event for protests, riots, lawsuits, death threats against the officers and, tragically, the shooting of two
more officers in response to the multi-day civil unrest that followed. It has also led to three of the officers involved in
obtaining the warrant as well as one of the officers involved in the raid being charged with federal crimes. John has
recently written a book called 12 Seconds in the Dark that documents the facts of the case from his perspective and
discusses numerous issues that have not been discussed in the media.
Timestamps
3:25 John’s Career History
6:50 Background Of The Warrant
13:45 John’s First Involvement In The Case
17:45 The Night of The Warrant, Ad Hoc Team & Training for Narcotics Units IN LMPD
24:45 Arrival at the Scene, Initial Scouting & Apartment Layout
33:00 Search Warrant Service Begins
42:00 Initial Aftermath of the Shooting
52:00 John’s Injuries and Medical Treatment
58:30 Press aftermath and inaccuracy of reporting
65:30 Initial Response OF City
72:00 Lessons Learned – Training
80:00 Lessons Learned – Knock & Notice, Culture & Complacency
89:00 Lessons Learned – Narco Teams v. SWAT Teams and Body Warn Cameras
93:00 Lessons Learned – Agency Response to These Types of Events
97:30 John’s Cautionary Advice To Young Cops Working Narco
1:01:00 The Need for Debriefs to Avoid Complacency
Links:
City of Louisville Investigative Files – Breonna Taylor Investigation | Louisville Metro PD, KY (louisville-police.org)
NY Times Investigation – What to Know About Breonna Taylor’s Death – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
