Simon & Schuster pulls out of book by cop involved in Breonna Taylor raid

April 16 (UPI) -- Publisher Simon & Schuster says it won't distribute a book written by a Louisville police officer who was part of the controversial raid that killed Breonna Taylor more than a year ago.

Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly's book, The Fight for Truth: The Inside Story Behind the Breonna Taylor Tragedy, is being published by Post Hill Press.

Simon & Schuster, which made the announcement late Thursday, distributes books published by Post Hill Press, a Tennessee-based publisher. The company said it had only recently learned of the book's existence.

"We have subsequently decided not to be involved in the distribution of this book," Simon & Schuster said in a statement.

Mattingly was part of a botched "no-knock" drug raid at Taylor's Louisville apartment on March 13, 2020. He fired six shots during the confrontation after he was shot in the thigh by Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who later said he thought the officers were intruders.

The FBI concluded that another officer, Myles Cosgrove, fired the shots that killed the 26-year-old Taylor. In all, police fired nearly three dozen bullets into the apartment.

Mattingly needed emergency surgery to repair his severed femoral artery.

Sam Aguiar, a Louisville attorney who represented Taylor's mother in a civil lawsuit against Louisville, thanked Simon & Schuster for its decision not to distribute Mattingly's book.

"This book will be a joke and do nothing to expose all the things he's been hiding," Aguiar said, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.

A MoveOn.org petition demanding that Simon & Schuster cancel Mattingly's book attracted more than 20,000 signatures.

This is the second time in three months that Simon & Schuster has pulled out of a book agreement involving a high-profile author. In January, it abandoned a book by Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley following his continued support for protesters and supporters of former President Donald Trump who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

"[We] cannot support Sen. Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom," Simon & Schuster said at the time.