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

3:15 John’s Career History

6:40 Background Of The Warrant

13:40 John’s First Involvement In The Case

17:35 The Night of The Warrant, Ad Hoc Team & Training for Narcotics Units in LMPD

24:40 Arrival at the Scene, Initial Scouting & Apartment Layout

31:55 Search Warrant Service Begins 42:00 Initial Aftermath of the Shooting

52:40 John's Injuries and Medical Treatment

56:35 Press aftermath and inaccuracy of reporting 01:05:20 Initial Response of City

01:12:10 Lessons Learned – Training

01:18:50 Lessons Learned – Knock & Notice, Culture & Complacency

01:29:00 Lessons Learned – Narco Teams v. SWAT Teams and Body Warn Cameras

01:32:30 Lessons Learned – Agency Response to These Types of Events

01:37:00 John’s Cautionary Advice To Young Cops Working Narco

01:40:50 The Need for Debriefs to Avoid Complacency

Links
City of Louisville Investigative Files
NY Times Investigation