GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Three years after a botched warrant by Louisville police turned fatal, the officer who fired the shot that killed Grand Rapids native Breonna Taylor is once again working in law enforcement.

Taylor’s sister Dee Dee said she’s afraid that since Myles Cosgrove and other officers were not criminally charged in Breonna’s death, nothing is stopping another deadly incident from happening to another family. 

“I feel devastated honestly,” said Dee Dee Taylor. 

It’s a harsh reality for the family who lost their daughter just over three years ago. Last month, a memorial and balloon release was held for Breonna Taylor in downtown Grand Rapids.

“It’s like instead of them getting a consequence, their reward … their consequence is a new job, or being able to move on to a new community, still holding a gun, still interacting with the community, without any consequence. And that in itself is a liability to our community in my opinion,” said Dee Dee Taylor. 

Monday, protestors gathered at the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, an hour northeast of Louisville, Kentucky, where Cosgrove now works as a deputy.

“I do appreciate those protesters for making awareness and also being peaceful,” said Dee Dee Taylor.

Although Cosgrove was fired by the Louisville Metro Police Department, he was never criminally charged.

“The new law that governs decertification in Kentucky, it really only strengthens holding law enforcement officers accountable who have been charged criminally,” said Carlton T. Mayers II, a national public safety and policing reform expert.

“It could be either a felony or a misdemeanor. That’s when the new law kicks in around taking away their police authority or their license to certification. He was never held criminally liable,” said Mayers. 

In a Monday statement, Cosgrove’s attorney L. Scott Miller pointed out that he was never charged and that several groups voted unanimously for him to maintain his police officer certification.

“Deputy Cosgrove maintains that his actions, after he and his partners came under fire, followed
Louisville Metro Police Department policy and constitutional use of force guidelines,” the statement read.

But Dee Dee Taylor believes this is just another reason change still needs to be made.

“I think, again, the issue of liability and how many more incidents do we need in order for us to realize that there used to be more done around police brutality?” she said.

“I’m not saying no one deserves a second chance, but a second chance is not new employment. A second chance is changed behavior. And so I just want something to be done. it can’t be in this manner,” said Dee Dee Taylor. 

The Department of Justice released an in-depth report in March of 2023 that reported officers in the Louisville police department being racially insensitive and using unreasonable tactics including executing search warrants without knocking and announcing.

*Correction: A previous version of this article included an incorrect first name for Mayers. We regret the error, which has been fixed.