Retired Louisville police sergeant John Mattingly, who was wounded during the Breonna Taylor raid in 2020, sat down with Tim Pool for an episode of his YouTube show, Timcast IRL, to discuss his experience and his new book, “12 Seconds in the Dark: A Police Officer’s Firsthand Account of the Breonna Taylor Raid,” which was published by Daily Wire Books on March 15. According to DW Books, Mattingly’s version “takes readers inside the Louisville Metro Police Department’s response to suspected criminal activity that night, debunking lie after lie about what happened.”
On Timcast, Mattingly broke down what the Catch 22 is for officers responding to riots, what he always feared most as a cop, and why the title of his book is “12 Seconds.”
As The Daily Wire previously reported, in March of 2020, “Taylor lost her life as police served a narcotics warrant on the apartment where she was staying with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker. While the nation has spent two years saying her name, it has turned a blind eye to Louisville Police Sergeant John Mattingly, who nearly lost his life to a gunshot from Walker’s 9-millimeter handgun. Sgt. Mattingly says he and Taylor were both victimized by Walker in his new book “12 Seconds In The Dark.”
During the wide-ranging conversation which broke down the night Taylor was shot and killed by police and the aftermath, Pool predicted that law enforcement officers in the future would be “going to prison,” meaning that they will be arrested if they take certain steps to protect businesses and lives during potential future riots, like the uprisings during the summer of 2020 surrounding the deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans, like Taylor.
“And here’s the Catch 22 in that, I’ve sworn an oath to protect and to serve,” Mattingly explained. “And as a citizen, I’m looking at the cops going, ‘Why are you not acting when they’re burning our stuff down?'”
“Now they’re being told by command, they follow orders, unfortunately, — sometimes that’s good, sometimes that’s bad — they’re following orders and they’re told to stand down,” Mattingly said of police. “And, a lot of them are looking at it now…going, ‘If I act I’m going to prison., Screw that, that building ain’t worth me going to prison.'”
“The citizens are mad at you because you’re letting stuff burn,” he continued. “The government’s mad at you if you do an act or they come at you, so it’s a no-win situation.”
.@sgtmattingly on the catch 22 cops are in when riots happen: "The citizens are mad at you because you're letting stuff burn. The government's mad at you if you do act or they come at you, so it's a no win situation." pic.twitter.com/ng4IQiMDux
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) March 30, 2022
Mattingly also added that his biggest fear has always been, “I don’t want to accidentally shoot or kill the wrong person. I mean that’s just a thought you’re constantly playing…because the fear is, ‘I only want to do the right thing, I don’t want to overstep these boundaries and in this position take somebody’s life because that’s a pretty heavy burden.”
As for why the book is titled, “12 seconds,” Mattingly said that was the amount of time it took for the raid and subsequent shooting of Taylor to occur.
“The title comes from the time that door was open until it was silent, no gunshot, the chaos stopped,” Mattingly explained. “And that was about 10-12 seconds from what we’ve tried to reenact it and see, and so much happens, so much chaos, so many things go through your mind in that 12 seconds that it’s just amazing how much damage can be done in that small amount of time and how much aftermath damage. The city, the country, the nation. From 12 seconds, and it’s just, it’s sad.”
.@sgtmattingly shares the meaning behind the title of his book, "12 Seconds In The Dark" published by @dailywirebooks: "It's just amazing how much damage can be done in that small amount of time and how much aftermath damage. The city, the country, the nation. From 12 seconds." pic.twitter.com/sBszLdEDux
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) March 30, 2022
According to the book’s Amazon page, Mattingly corrects the record on a myriad of stories that were distorted in national media, including.
- The officers followed standard forced-entry protocol—and even gave the suspect more time than usual to respond before entering.
- Taylor’s boyfriend inside the apartment most certainly knew it was the police who were at his door, despite falsely claiming the police did not announce or identify themselves.
- Breonna should not have died that night, but her death did not happen the way the media told you.
- In this gritty and suspenseful true story, Mattingly sets the record straight on this shocking story that gripped the nation.
The entire episode of Timcast IRL can be seen here: