One of the Louisville Metro Police officers who fired shots during the attempted search warrant execution that left Breonna Taylor dead in her apartment last year is writing a book about the case.
via: Complex
According to the Courier-Journal, Louisville Metro Police Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly has landed a book deal with Post Hill Press—a Tennessee-based publisher that focuses on Christian and conservative works, as well as areas of pop culture, business, and self-help. The outlet reportedly learned of the deal earlier this week, when Mattingly contacted its newsroom about using one of its photos from a protest back in May.
Post Hill Press senior publicist Devon Brown confirmed Thursday that the book—titled The Fight for Truth: The Inside Story Behind the Breonna Taylor Tragedy—will be published sometime in the fall. Simon & Schuster is expected to distribute the work.
Shortly after midnight on March 13, 2020, Sgt. Mattingly and two other LMPD officers executed a no-knock warrant at Taylor’s apartment in Louisville. The 26-year-old EMT and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were in bed sleeping at the time authorities stormed the home. Officers allegedly failed to identify themselves upon entering the apartment, leading Walker to believe they were burglars. Walker, who was a licensed gun carrier, fired a single shot toward officers Mattingly, Myles Cosgrove, and Brett Hankison. A shootout ensued, and Taylor was shot six times. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators determined it was Cosgrove who fired the shot that killed Taylor.
Mattingly was wounded during the incident, and later sued Walker for his actions on the night of the raid. The officer accused of Walker firing the shot that hit him in the leg, resulting in “severe trauma, mental anguish, and emotional distress.” Walker’s attorney, Steve Romines, described the suit as a “baseless attempt to further victimize and harass Kenny.”
One of the cops who killed Breonna Taylor just got a book deal, via ?@AlannaVagianos? https://t.co/RlzIuJaLjn
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) April 15, 2021
Immediately after Mattingly’s book deal was confirmed, people took to Twitter to express their outrage. Many called on Post Hill Press to squash the deal, while others urged Simon & Schuster to end its distribution deal with the publisher. You can read some of the reactions below.
https://twitter.com/helloomabel/status/1382817749181816832?s=20
https://twitter.com/RoArquette/status/1382814858891075586?s=20
https://twitter.com/beth_phelan/status/1382821163492052994?s=20
https://twitter.com/AdrienneLaw/status/1382791476355100674?s=20
Friends, I encourage you to speak out about this to the publisher and distributor, as opposed to boycotting S&S books, especially those by BIPOC and other marginalized authors. Let's express our outrage w/o negatively impacting underrepresented voices.
— Kit Frick DOES NOT LIVE HERE ANYMORE. (@kitfrick) April 15, 2021
I’ve just started a @MoveOn petition. Let’s get it to 100,000 signatures.https://t.co/4rDCG5hsIW
— Nandini Jammi (@nandoodles) April 15, 2021
https://twitter.com/vazquezwithaz/status/1382798083059281920?s=20
There's no way to argue that Mattingly's point of view is "newsworthy." And there's no way to argue that the target audience for this book are anything more than vile racists.
— Maris Kreizman (@mariskreizman) April 15, 2021
Nothing should surprise us at this point.
