LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Members of the Louisville Metro Police SWAT unit condemned the planning and execution of the March raid on Breonna Taylor’s home, with one saying it was an “egregious act.”
Lt. Dale Massey and other members of LMPD's SWAT team told the Profession Integrity Unit in interviews after Taylor’s death the three officers involved violated a basis rule of policing — identifying your target and what's in the background before you shoot.
Sgt. Brandon Hogan called that "basic academy stuff," according to interviews obtained by The Louisville Courier Journal as part of LMPD's investigative file.
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Massey told investigators he hadn't received any matrix or operations plan in advance of officers serving the warrant on Taylor's apartment.
Moreover, Massey said he has "never received a matrix from CID that we had to do the warrant on" — suggesting that the LMPD's Criminal Interdiction Division, which investigates a range of crimes from narcotics to gangs to violence-prone areas, regularly fails to comply with department policy.
A SWAT matrix, or risk assessment matrix, is designed to evaluate factors that could create danger during the execution of a search warrant. Department policy calls for such a matrix to be completed before applying for any search warrant.
"I never received (matrices) on the work that they do, only the ones that we do for 'em," Massey said.
The matrix for 3003 Springfield Drive #4, where Taylor was fatally shot, is undated and did not score high enough to require SWAT to serve it or to require a SWAT consultation. It, however, does not include that the warrant for the apartment had a "no-knock" provision.