KSP: Deputy involved in Clay City shooting

CLAY CITY, Ky. (WTVQ) – Kentucky State Police are investigating a shooting in Powell Co. that involved a member of law enforcement.

According to the Powell Co. Sheriff, the male victim was shot in the chest by a deputy Friday morning and taken to the hospital by helicopter.

The sheriff’s office says it got a call about a man acting strange near a home on Cooper’s Creek Road in Clay City.

The caller said he’d been hanging out near the mailbox for about a hour and it made the people inside the home nervous.

But when a deputy came up and asked the man his name, they say he hesitated, appeared to reach for something in his back pocket then took off into a field.

They say another deputy chased him down and tased him several times but that the man didn’t stop. Instead deputies say he tried pulling the taser prongs out of his back and kept running.

According to officers, the deputy fought with the suspect, emptied a can of pepper spray on him then used his club to try and get the suspect under control but nothing seemed to work and the guy kept going.

After more fighting they say the deputy feared for his life and fired one shot, hitting the suspect in the chest and still the suspect jumped a fence trying to get away.
The deputy was eventually able to arrest him.

Investigators say the suspect was smoking a cigarette and talking while he waited for the helicopter to take him to the hospital but ABC 36 hasn’t gotten an update on his condition.

The suspect’s name isn’t being released at this time but officers say he has a lengthy criminal history in Clark County with charges including: burglary, menacing, assault, child abuse, possession of a controlled substance, trafficking a controlled substance and tampering with evidence.

Investigators say there was a warrant for his arrest because he violated parole in August for having and selling drugs.

The deputy, whose name has not been release, is on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated, which is procedure. ABC 36 has learned he is a veteran officer with about 35 years experience, ten years with the Powell County Sheriff’s Office and he was a federal forestry office before that.