Krystal Runs, Milk Cartons, And Staple Guns

Drop us some feedback

The thin line between courage and chaos has never been more evident than in the world of School Resource Officers. In this raw and riveting conversation, veteran officer Dave Lennon pulls back the curtain on his 33-year law enforcement journey, revealing the unexpected path that led him from road patrol to the hallways of Kentucky schools.

"Police work is a dark business and you've got to have a dark sense of humor to survive," Lennon shares, before launching into stories that alternate between hilarious mishaps and heart-stopping danger. From his early days making $5.15 an hour at the Corbin Police Department to finding his true calling as an SRO, Lennon's career spans the evolution of modern policing itself.

The conversation takes unexpected turns as Lennon recounts physical confrontations with suspects under the influence, the challenges of maintaining authority while showing compassion to students, and the unique position SROs occupy in a school community. "When that call comes, there's nobody catching it but you—you're it," he explains, highlighting the immense responsibility these officers carry. His experience coaching sports teams, announcing games on the radio, and serving as a father figure to countless students demonstrates how the role extends far beyond security.

The episode concludes with a poignant discussion of the recent EF4 tornado that devastated Laurel County, claiming 19 lives and destroying over a thousand homes. Through this tragedy, the true character of first responders and community members shines through, revealing the resilience that defines Kentucky's spirit. "We've got that mountain blood in us," Lennon reflects, "and we don't know any other way than to stand up, dust yourself off, put one foot in front of the other and keep going."

Whether you're in law enforcement, education, or simply interested in the human stories behind the badge, this conversation offers rare insight into the complex, challenging, and ultimately rewarding world of those who protect our most precious resource—our children. Listen now to gain a newfound appreciation for the men and women who walk the thin blue line in our schools every day.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Music Welcome back, guys.
Got another episode for you.
Got a little less time inbetween this one and the last
one, yeah we've gotten lazy yeahwe've gotten lazy and tried to
get back on track witheverything we tried to put one
out a week.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
We were doing it, we were on trip and then he got a
job.
I went on vacation and we justgot out of the hangar easy, easy
to get out of the room, likeanything else you gotta get that
rotation, get the hat, that'sright so when you get out it's
hard to get everything going.
But I think this is our 17th ifyou counted right 17th or 18th?

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, 17th or 18th.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
We're not good at math.
That's why we're in theprofession we're in.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
So today we have a co-worker of mine and we met
this year.
Well, technically we met backwhen you was calling some games
up here at South Laurel forWhitley County, yeah, but really
got to know each other thisyear.
But Dave Lennon's with us todayand we have had, so I've

(01:37):
laughed at you already this year, just not even knowing some of
the stories, but I just you'vealways got something to say.
You've always got a story thatyou've always got to.
You've always got something tosay.
You always got to get a storythat you've, that you've done.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
But you know, this is the thing about being in police
work it's a dark business andyou got to have a dark sense of
humor to, to, to survive, uh,and then, uh, just some of the
stuff that you see over over thecourse of a career.
Stuff that you see over thecourse of a career, you know.
And then the things we do toeach other.

(02:08):
That's the interesting thing.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Hey guys, I just want to take a moment and thank our
sponsor.
We've got Ascend Wellness.
It's a family-owned mentalhealth practice in London,
kentucky.
They've got over 65 years ofcombined experience.
They specialize intrauma-focused care, offering
EMDR therapy for firstresponders and others impacted
by traumatic events.

(02:34):
If you're not familiar withthat, a lot of our guys have
taken the time to do that typeof therapy and it really allows
you to kind of get your mindwrapped around the trauma that
you may or may not know thatyou're holding on to.
It's helped a lot of the guysthat we know.
Travis himself has done it andswears by it.

(02:57):
Said that he opened up tothings he didn't even know that
was bothering him.
So definitely something youmight want to check out.
Services include individualmarriage and family counseling.
Let's be honest as firstresponders, our marriages, our

(03:18):
families, sometimes take asecond seat or a back seat to
the job.
So I can't imagine that any ofus would ever need marriage
counseling or anything to fixthe problems at home.
Hopefully you don't, but if youdo, they're good at what they
do so they can help you outthere.
Family counseling, mat,substance abuse counseling,

(03:44):
parenting classes, supervisedvisitation and medication
management all delivered in asupportive, client-centered
environment.
They are located at 148Commercial Drive in London,
kentucky, and Ascend Wellness ishere to help you rise you rise.
If you are interested invisiting or contacting them, you

(04:06):
can find them atascendwellnessorg or call
606-260-8532.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
Come on in.
We're getting ready to putanother mic because our good
friend Dan's coming.
Let me tell you why he's comingup.

Speaker 4 (04:23):
He's coming up to check on me because I was
washing my hands.
Now I'm going to leave you withthat.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
I don't know why.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
Is he going to leave?
No, he's probably going tospread the word on why I had to
wash my hands.
I'm going to leave it.
I've got a story that will begermane to this as far as police
work.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
I've got a story that will be germane to this as far
as police work.
Yeah, dan just walked in.
Who's Dave Nard's boss?
He got out of Dan's office.

Speaker 4 (04:51):
He's seen the mics out and got out of here quick
he's scared or something youknow, but you've got to be able
to laugh at yourself, becauseyou make mistakes, and when you
make a mistake, they're usuallypretty public.
Yeah, yes, and your boys thatyou're working with I don't care
at what level you're workingthey're going to throw the

(05:15):
saddle on you, ride you like agovernment.
You are absolutely.
You better be able to handle it.
You better find anotherprofession.
I work way less about beingshot at and whipped out here on
the street than I did doingsilly stuff and getting wrote by
my own workers.
Oh yeah, it's part of it.
That's exactly why he was here.

(05:35):
He was here to throw the saddleout.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
What happened there?
We're not going to go into it.
I'll tell you a story.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
I'll tell you a story that's kind of like it, though.
Okay, I'll tell you a story.
I'll tell you a story that'skind of like it, though.
Okay, and you know, I was atWhitley County.
I worked for the Whitley CountySheriff's Department for a
number of years and I was an SRO, but during the summer I would
work the road.

(06:02):
I wasn't retired yet, so Ineeded those months towards my
retirement and I would work theroad, and I enjoyed working the
road.
It was kind of a nice balance.
You work with kids for ninemonths of the year and by the
time you're sick of the kids yougo to the road.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
It takes much less time to get sick of the road.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
About three months you're sick of the road and
ready to go back to school.
So it was a really good balancethat I had.
And you know I knew, havingworked in the schools, I knew so
many of the kids and even theadults that had gone through.
You know, I was an SRO atWhitley County for 22 years, so

(06:38):
I knew a lot of people in thecounty and I was down in one
community and I saw a kid that Iabsolutely knew was suspended.
He was 19.
He was an idiot.
He was an idiot when he was inschool and one time he was in
the alternative school and hewouldn't go to class and he was
sitting out in the gym and theycalled me and there was one.

(07:00):
These times have changed.
There was one SRO to cover allthe schools in Whitley County,
oh gosh.
So they called me and said, hey, one, these times have changed.
There was one SRO to cover allthe schools in Whitley County.
So they called me and said, hey, this kid won't go to class and
I said I'll be right there.
So I walk in the gym and I saidcome on, let's go to class.
He said I'm not going, youcan't make me.
And I laughed and I said if youthink I can't make you, you're

(07:31):
severely wrong.
I said if you don't think thatI won't drag you into class and
staple you with a staple gun tothe seat, you're wrong again.
So we had some back and forthand you know it was kind of like
the Wild West, that particularalternative school.
So he said I'm not going.
I said yeah, you are.
So I went over there andgrabbed him.
He had cowboy boots on.
I grabbed his cowboy boot.
It came off so I flung it away,grabbed him by his ankle he had

(07:52):
nasty.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
Talking about washing your hands, he had some nasty
socks on, I drug him across thegym floor.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
Of course it was a nice, smooth gym floor, well
waxed, so he slid pretty goodyou know it was no problem.
And his classroom classroom wasactually in the gym.
It was an old, old school andyou had like three classrooms
off the gym.
So I dragged him in theclassroom and you should have
seen the kids in the classroomwhen I dragged him in because
they were like kind of hislittle entourage that didn't

(08:19):
think that this would happen.
And I dragged him in.
He's kicking and screaming andgoing on and I pick him up and
throw him in a seat and I said Ineed the staple gun and
everybody kind of looked andthey said he said please, mr
Leonard, I'll stay in class.
I said I knew you would.
I said don't take it.
I said if he gives you anyproblem, call me, I'll come on

(08:40):
back.
Now in today's times I would beyeah, you can't do it no more.
And you know, I knew his dad,knew his dad well, and I called
and told his dad what I did andhe said you should have put a
knot on his head or two just forgood measure.
I said no, I don't want to dothat, I just want to get in
class.
From that moment on I had zeroproblems.

(09:02):
Out of him or his entourageyeah, sometimes it gets around.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
Sometimes I need to see him.
Oh, that guy, he's legit yeah.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
He can handle it.
Now you know I'm older and wiserand of course I wouldn't do
that.
Now.
Everybody, everything's, youknow, the big eye in the sky
never lies and it's alwayswatching, oh yeah.
So yeah, it's, but this kid.
Going back to my original storyon this particular young man, I

(09:33):
knew he was suspended and I sawhim in this community.
So I flip-flop on him, I turnaround and get behind the car
and I call it in, said dispatch,I'll be stopping abc one, two,
three on this particular road.
You know, I said 10-4, give metime.
So I I hit my light, he looksup and sees me and he pulls up.

(09:58):
I thought he might run, but Iguess he remembered me dragging
him across the gym.
I knew I wouldn't.
Great boy, yeah, that's cool.
Yeah, I want to grab a roaddrag.
It wouldn't go nearly as well.
So I had eaten at Crystalearlier in the evening, that's
when I was still at Crystal inWilliamsburg, and let's just say

(10:21):
that I couldn't complete thetraffic stop.
I got out of the car and waslike whoop, yeah, dispatch
signal at that traffic stop, Ican get him later.
I said I'll be 10-6.
I'm being around to my signalone for just a few, they all do.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
It's easy I'm going to be 10-200.
Yeah, 10,200.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
But the problem was yeah, we'll just leave it right
there.
Yeah, you didn't make it.
Let's just say I had to wash myhands that day too.
Yeah, well.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
I don't know how many pissing stories I've told on
myself on this podcast, butlet's, I don't know what is it
we're up to if we've done 17,I'd say 10.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
At least at least 10 or 14.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
The funniest one I ever had and I'm going to.
Did I tell one of them when not, or when we got married?

Speaker 2 (11:19):
That you peeing on yeah.

Speaker 4 (11:21):
No, you.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
I had a dream about testing out my grandma's new
toilet and I peed all of mybrand new wife in the bed.
She made me sleep with her.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
She made me sleep with her, and she's still
married to me.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
At least that's the story that they're telling.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
I mean, you know, I slept with a trash bag under my
bed.
Every time I get up it's likeshe's a saint.
She's a saint, is all I've gotto say.
So that's my last piece to wrap.
Everyone tell, but I confessthat to you, just you, oh yeah,
nobody, no, nobody, yeah, nobody.

Speaker 4 (12:01):
We'll keep that a secret, just between us so how
long have you policed?
uh, I started august 8th of 1990, I started Of 1990, I started
at Corbin PD and I worked thereuntil December 1st of 2001.
And I thought I was burnt outon police work and I took a

(12:22):
really, really good job in afactory as safety and health
coordinator.
Sitting behind a desk I wouldgo out and walk the floor and
make sure that people werewearing their safety goggles and
I was writing all the accidentreports and safety things and I
was doing the OSHA stuff makingreally really good money.
And I knew 45 minutes into thejob that I had made a horrendous

(12:44):
tactical error.
So I called around and I talkedto several agencies.
Uh, everybody knew I wasmiserable you know, down there.
They, it just wasn't.
It just wasn't for me.
It'd be great job.
Yeah, great.
People were at the particularfactory I was working at and, uh

(13:04):
, about the second week of aprilthe sheriff from whitley county
called me.
He said hey, he said our s.
Hey, he said our SRO just quit.
He said I know you're lookingfor a job and would you want to
come finish out the years in SRO?
And he said you know, thenwe'll go from there.
And I said that'd be great.
I said but I'm going to behonest with you up front.

(13:26):
I said I got a job as a citypolice officer in another city
and I said I can't start therebecause the guy's retiring.
I'm not starting there untilJune 1st, so I'll work for you
until July 1st.
I'll work for you through June.
He said that's great, I canalways use manpower.
So I started at the WhitmanCounty Sheriff's Department on

(13:50):
March 1st of 2002 and absolutelyfell in love with being an SRO.
And at the time my kids weregoing to Corbin and I was
working in Whitley and they werereally young and everything's
fine.
As it turned out, both kidsended up transferring down to

(14:11):
Whitley County in the middleschool and so I had the.
It was nice it cut down onlogistics to have both my kids
in the same school system at thesame time and it afforded me a
lot of opportunities.
And at Whitley County for awhile I was the coach to be

(14:31):
named later.
If they needed somebody tocoach something they'd say, well
, dave can coach that, call Dave, you know.
And so while I was there Icoached middle school baseball,
middle school softball, freshmanfootball.
I was assistant JV coach for alittle while, but the big thing,

(14:53):
oh, and I was SID.
They knew that I took a big cutin pay, leaving the sheriff's
department and they made mesports information director for
like three or four years, really, yeah, well, longer than that,
about six years.
And it worked out really good.
They were paying me and I wasgoing to games anyway, because I
was doing them on the radio,yeah, and I would just take my

(15:17):
stats, write a story from it,put it out in the paper, send it
to the lexington arrow,whatever, yeah, send it out.
And I was getting.
They were paying me to do that.
So then I got into the coachingthing and that was a lot of fun
, uh, and I got to coach both mykids at the middle school level
and uh, uh and.
But my big break came, as far ascoaching goes, came in 2010.
They decided they wanted torestart the cross-country

(15:38):
program.
Whitley County had been dormantfor a while and I had gone to
school with the athleticdirector since first grade, all
the way through, and I wasstanding out there with the
principal superintendent andathletic director and I said
they were.
They were not happy abouthaving to start restart the

(15:59):
cross-country program.
The reason they're restartedwas title nine, yeah, and they
said we gotta now we're gonnahave to waste a teaching
position on a on a cross-countrycoach, and that's just.
You know, they just weren'thappy about it, right?
And the athletic director saysno, no, he said we don't have to
waste the teachers, they canhandle it.
I'm like what you got voluntold?

(16:20):
Yeah, I got voluntold, I wasgoing to do it.
And Benji said yeah, dave, youran in high school, you ran in
college.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
You know the sport better than anything else.
You coached.

Speaker 4 (16:35):
Yeah.
So you know, yeah, this shouldbe easy for you.
And I was like, well, okay,what's it pay?
And it paid a pretty niceamount.
And uh, so I took over thecross-country program and then,
two years later, uh, the trackcoach quit.
On february 15th, which was theday that track started, they
called me I was at the 18-milemarker northbound and they said,

(16:59):
hey, the track coach justresigned.
I said I'll take it.
They said, well, we haven'toffered it.
I said I don't care, I'll takeit anyway.
They said, well, we werecalling to tell you that you
were getting it.
I'm like, okay, got it allworked out.
But the funny thing was I hadjust turned down a softball job
that morning and I'd used everyexcuse in the world that they

(17:21):
might've believed maybe to avoidcoaching softball, cause I
didn't want to coach softball atthis point that's it's a
different a different, differentgame.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah and uh, uh.
So I took over the track job.
So I was track and crosscountry coach at Whitley County
for about 10 years, until 2019,and I got out of it and I kept

(17:45):
doing radio.
I did radio until 21 and I gotout of it.
And it's amazing how much timethat you have when you're not
doing radio coaching two sports,oh yeah, when you don't have 15
jobs, yeah, you know but yeah,I enjoyed my time there at the

(18:07):
sheriff's department and then in22 I was, I had retired in 21
and went back to work.
Retirement didn't stick, whichwasn't my gig for me, and I was
like I've got to do something.
So I went back to work as anSRO.
Well, most of my buddies hadretired or moved on or this,
that and the other, and I'm like, yeah, I've got to find

(18:30):
something else here.
And yeah, I've got to findsomething else here.
And I'd heard through theJungle Telegraph that Laurel
County was starting their ownpolice department.
I thought, hmm, now I know DougBennett.
He was superintendent here atthe time.
Yeah, he's from where he taught.
I knew him all the way back towhen he was a classroom teacher

(18:50):
and a wrestling coach and guesswhat, I was SID, so I had a
pretty good working relationshipwith him.
So I call up Dr Bennett and Isay, hey, I hear you all are.
Yeah, we're looking into it.
And I gave him my resume kindof a verbal thing over the phone
and I was in the first class tohave all three SRO and he said,
yeah, come up and put anapplication in tomorrow.

(19:11):
He said, yeah, come up and putan application in tomorrow.
He said it's not even official,you should get your application
.
So I was day one hire with ourLaurel County School Police
Department.
Love it.
You couldn't run me off with amop and a bucket.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
I started real quickly.
Before Laurel County had theirown police department, I started
SRO I guess I'm going to say2012-13 school year was my first
year and I filled in for aquick hot minute for an officer
that was hurt or had surgeryover here at South Laurel and at

(19:47):
the time it was just two of usrunning all 17, 18 schools,
whatever it is, and you didn'tget bored and they couldn't trap
you.
You'd be like, hey, I got to go, you wasn't just stuck at one
school.
You'd be like, hey, I need tohead down to this elementary
school and had a ball.
But they did.
They would.
Hey, we need an archery coach.

(20:09):
Archery, I never.
I was like I shot a lot ofpistols and I've shot a lot of
rifles.
I can teach them natural pointof aim and I'm not a bow shooter
, you know.
Going to Louisville with somestate tournament stuff and
national stuff, you're like, oh,this is cool.
And then I was like I wish Icould teach them how to do this.

(20:30):
I'm the worst coach ever forthat.
And then I was like I wish Icould teach them how to do this.
I'm the worst coach ever forthat.
And then coached sixth gradefootball and got to coach my son
.
And there's a fine line betweenbeing a coach and being a dad
and you've got to be that coachout there.
It's just almost getting fistfights with your son, beating

(20:52):
him over your knee out there.
But it was a lot of fun.
We had a good time.

Speaker 4 (20:56):
You know I was very blessed, particularly when I was
coaching my son and daughter.
Both in that Whitley County hadbaseball bingo.
So we didn't fundraise.
We still did because we wantedthe kids to take some
responsibility in it.
But I kind of had a rule withboth of my kids.
I was the coach until we pulledin the driveway, because you

(21:20):
know we're riding home togetherafter games and after practice.
I was the coach until we pulledin the driveway.
Then I had to be dad and wekind of had a rule.
We didn't talk about sports athome, particularly not the
dinner table, because my wifewould have knocked my teeth out
some of the things I said toboth my kids out on the diamond.

(21:45):
Yeah, I've got to have thatseparation.
But you know, being an SRO it'sa lot of fun and it gives you
an opportunity.
You know, being an SRO it's alot of fun and it gives you an
opportunity.
You know, so many times thesekids only see police in an
adversarial light.
You know you come to theirhouse in probably the worst time
that they can have, yeah, andmaybe sometimes in maybe a

(22:12):
domestic situation, you'retaking mom or dad or both to
jail, depending and so you'rethe bad guy.
And when you're an SRO,depending, so you're the bad guy
.
And when you're an SRO, theysee you in a completely
different light.
And guys at the elementaryschools and I'll be honest with
you, I was not wired for anelementary school At any point
in my entire career I could nothave been successful.
And I started out at CampGraham Elementary and I loved it
and I averaged about 12 hugs aday, oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
And 50 cartons of milk opened.
Yeah, I mean, that's what youdo at lunch yeah, and and and it
was, it was good.

Speaker 4 (22:41):
But uh, at some point they said they came to us dave,
your heart charger, you are notcut out for this, because I was
doing campground and daytreatment at the same time.
I was spending half day at one,half day at the other.
So they saw I wasn't anelementary guy, you know, and so
they moved me up here to themiddle school and it's been a

(23:02):
great fit for me and, to behonest with you, I didn't think
I.
I thought I was a high schoolguy and I really liked the
middle school.
I think it's a really good fitfor me.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
It's a.
I think it's a really good fitfor me.
It's a tough, it's a tough agegroup, but especially sixth
grade, eighth grade, especiallywhen you have some hold back
kids or whatever, there's a hugeage difference.
When these 11 year, 11 yearolds coming in here and then
some I mean there's kids thatprobably once they changed the
driver driver's license, stuffthat probably got their driver's
license.
Maybe you ever ever did, yeah,this school year.

Speaker 4 (23:32):
Yeah, they were kids driving, not they were doing the
permit Permit Driving to school, and their parents would get
out and you'd see them switchingtheir parking line Right here
at the middle school.
That's crazy and that'sdifferent.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
That's wild.
When you have a sixth grade,come in, you know babies really.
And then you know, it'sdifferent.
It is a different calling themiddle school Teachers.
Lord, I don't know.
I asked my wife.
She's a teacher, she's in highschool.
I was like, would you do middleschool?

(24:02):
It's a special calling.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
You've got puberty and all that coming in at that
Babies up here.

Speaker 4 (24:09):
Still.
Here's the thing and this isnot on Laurel County, because
everybody does it now when Iwent to school and that was back
when we rode dinosaurs toschool it was junior high,
seventh and eighth gradetogether.
There's such a maturity gapbetween sixth graders and eighth

(24:31):
graders, yes, and not onlymentally but physically, and
fortunately we've not had a hugeproblem with that.
But the sixth graders I seecoming in, and not just coming
into my school, but I see sixthgraders out in the real world
when I go to other schools.
Sixth graders are just notready for the responsibility and

(24:51):
the freedom that they get inmiddle school schools to go.
The sixth grader is just notready for the responsibility and
the freedom that they get inmiddle school.
But by the end of the yearthey've learned and they're
better and when they come backthey're a totally different
animal when they come back asseventh graders, yeah, it's
different.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
I think I enjoy.
It seems like though theinnocence is lost and it's
you're like holy cow.
It takes about a half year forthem to really kind of.
You're like oh, this kid'sdifferent, but it's a middle
schooler.
I mean, you got them coming allfrom.
You know they're used to theirlittle tiny elementary school.

(25:25):
For the most part we got somebig elementary schools, but then
all of a sudden they'reentering in a from all over the
county or different parts of thecounty, and you know it's a
different world.
They're pied for the first sixweeks.

Speaker 4 (25:38):
Yeah, they are, they don't know what to think, but
it's all good.
And even then you know there'ssome cool things.
This year we had the big auditcame in from Kentucky Center for
School Safety and they wereinterviewing kids.
I think I got the bestcompliment.

(26:01):
I mean there were a lot of kidsthat said, oh, he's chill, he's
this, he's that.
Nobody said anything reallynegative, which pleased me
greatly, but one kid and I don'tknow who it was said he's
really nice.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
But you can tell if you look at him when nobody's
watching you can tell he'd bemean if he had to be, which is
good, that's a pretty goodcompliment, because an SRO it's
kind of a special position inthe fact that your primary
objective here is, to put itcrudely is to seek and destroy a

(26:37):
threat if something happens.
But then you've also got to beable to flip that switch and be,
you know, kind of a light andpath to these kids too.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
So it's a whole You've got to have both of those
animals, jekyll and Hyde kindof in you.

Speaker 4 (26:51):
You have both of those animals, jekyll and Hyde
kind of in you.
Well, you know, the day onemeeting we had, dr Bennett was
still superintendent.
They came in and they weretalking to us and Dr Bennett
said listen, and there wereeight of us that first day, only
eight, day one hires.

(27:11):
And we were talking and DrBennett said you're here for one
reason.
We don't care what you do otherthan this, said you are, you're
here to kill the bad guy or dietrying.
And if you're not ready to dothat, you need to find another
job right now.
And everybody you could youcould see everybody in the room
say yeah, this is it?

(27:33):
This is what we want to do andyou know, as you become more
invested in a school, you end updoing more, and you do things
that are way, way outside thescope of the league.
Yeah, but that's the way thatyou build those relationships
with those kids.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
You know, I mean, how much basketball did you shoot?
How many going into class andlearning sitting down?
I mean it's.
But those kids will rememberthose times more than we'll ever
know.
We'll forget the names of thesekids a lot of times and we'll
see them later and they're likeyou remember me, I was in I was

(28:12):
like, was like, yeah, yeah, howyou doing.
I can't remember their names,but, man, the impact that we
have is greater than we ever didworking the streets as a road
unit, um, and it's so important,I think, that we put our best
in there.
I think it used to be well,this guy, this guy, let's hide

(28:33):
him in the schools or whatever,and luckily that never happened
in our around here, because youneed to have your best officer.
That's what Stuart Walker putme in there a long time ago is
that we need somebody that wecan trust, that we know can do
the job.

Speaker 4 (28:53):
When I took SRO1 I was in the very first SRO1 class
and Alex Payne was thecommissioner at DOCJT at that
point and they removed him forwhatever reason.
I won't mention politics, butthey removed him.
And a huge mistake.

(29:14):
Mention politics but theyremoved him.
And a huge mistake.
But I have a ton of respect forAlex Payne.
He knocked me out once I took aASP training.
I trained the trainer, I was anASP instructor.
We were doing the red man and Ikept dropping my left hand.
He said time out, he was in thered man suit.
I was going to ask theinstructor and we were doing the
red man and I kept dropping myleft hand.

(29:35):
He said time out, he was in thered man suit, I wasn't.
He said time out.
We had to stay in there forlike an hour I mean a minute, it
seemed like an hour and he saidLennon.
He said if you drop your lefthand one more time, I'm going to
knock you out.
I'm like yeah, you are, andwe'd go on.

(29:56):
And it wasn't 15 seconds, 20seconds.
Once we started again, heknocked me out.
I saw the sun and the moon andthe whole constellation and he
stood over and told me I toldyou I was going to knock you out
.
But the thing that he said whenwe were in that first
orientation hour, that first SROclass, he said, guys, he said

(30:19):
so many people don't understandthe job of an SRO.
He said to me this is moreimportant than a good SRT unit.
He said you should get the bestofficers with the best
equipment, best training,because they're protecting our
most precious resource andthat's kids.
And for so many years I took alot of guff from a lot of

(30:44):
officers, particularly when Iwas just solely an SRO at
Whitley County, and they wouldsay, oh, you're just an SRO,
yeah, and the thing about justan SRO, yeah, and the thing
about being an SRO.
When you're in the school andyou know you've got your school,
I've got my school, the other16 guys have their schools when
the call comes, whether it'sfrom the principal or whoever.

(31:06):
We don't get a call fromdispatch very often occasionally
, but not very often.
But when that call comes youcan't.
It's not like if you're workingthe road and you're sitting
there eating, taking five, andyou're eating and a call comes
out and somebody says, well, I'malready finished, I'll go catch
a call.
There's nobody catching a call,you're it, you're it, you've
got to go do it.
So I mean I thought Alex Payneunderstands this job.

(31:32):
So I mean I thought Alex Payneunderstands this job.
A lot of people don't, and so,yeah, it's an important job.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
It is A little background for the folks that
aren't familiar.
Kentucky may be the only one,or were the first ones, to
require a certified policeofficer, an SRO, on every campus
.
Fortunately this school has twoor three schools on it, but

(32:04):
they provided.
You know we got two officers inthis but technically they got
away with one, but you couldn'thave done it.

Speaker 4 (32:10):
One person could not have, there's 4,000 people on
this campus.

Speaker 3 (32:13):
I'd say this is like a giant.
What I used to think about whenI was here is we've got
everything that's out there inthe city.
It's right here, fromrestaurants to traffic control,
to anything.
It's a micro.

(32:33):
It's a micro.

Speaker 4 (32:35):
It's a microcosm of the real world.

Speaker 3 (32:36):
Yes, and it happens and everything these kids bring
from their home.
It's reflected right here and alot of kids what happens here
is the biggest thing that everhappens to them.
So the bullying and whatever'sgoing on here is huge in their
lives and it carries back totheir home sometimes and you

(32:59):
have to just really muck throughall that stuff to kind of
figure out like, is this reallyimportant?
But to those kids it'sextremely important.

Speaker 4 (33:11):
Well, you know and it's funny that I ended up in
school one of the guys thatbefore I was ever an officer and
I was contemplating becoming anofficer, I was working for the
Revenue Cabinet for the state ofKentucky, if you can believe
that.
I just lost some respect.
Well, you know, I get it,believe me, and I decided I

(33:32):
wanted to get in something lessdangerous than being a revenuer
and, uh, so I decided on policeofficer, yeah, and I was riding
with the trooper and I, you know, I'm like dragging it the
name's gonna be changed toprotect the innocent or the
guilty in this particular and Iwas.
I was riding with his trooperand we were working down in

(33:53):
South Whitley and, just likehere in Laurel County, there's a
place where I-75 runs really,really, really close to 25.
And we made a stop for DUI andthere were like four juveniles
in the car and he has the driverout and he's doing field
sobriety.

(34:13):
I'm standing at the back of thecar kind of watching, you know,
with the goings-on, trying tofigure it out.
Those four kids jump out of thecar and hop the guardrail and
run down.
They're going to hit 25.
And I said, hey, they'rerunning.
And he said they're juveniles.
He said that's like catching an11-inch bass you throw it back

(34:36):
and you catch it next year, youknow.
And then I didn't really get it.
I mean, yeah, you know, I getit.
But I thought no, we're not.
You know, you're the police.
We don't let that stuff go on.
But as I got older and when Ibecame a police officer, I

(34:58):
figured it out.
But then where did I end up Atschool?

Speaker 3 (35:07):
After 11 years I ended up in school dealing with
juveniles for the better part ofmy career.
On a weekend night we've got athis is a South Laurel kid
called T-Dot.
Next thing you know I'm upthere at 3 o'clock in the
morning talking to juvenilesbecause they road units hated
dealing with juveniles.
They didn't understand.
It's no different, it's just.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Well, I would say this.
I would say that your trainingas a road unit is not as good as
it should be.
Diddlying juveniles, oh noteven close you just know the
bare minimums, you gotta callCDW you can't handcuff them to a
bench, not saying that wouldever happen, since when?

Speaker 4 (35:49):
just joking.
It is a different, a differentthing.
Win, just joking.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
It is a different thing.
And one time it was early inthe morning and I just came out
we had a case, a sexual assaultcase, and I go out.
They called me in.
I'm like, okay, and I just cameout of a sexual assault school,

(36:15):
you know, in service class, andit's talking about never.
You know, you never brandizethe victim, you never do they're
a victim.
So first thing, but juveniles,you always brandize a juvenile.
So I was like I brandized avictim and boy did our detective

(36:35):
.
She came upside my head.
I was like, yes, ma'am, I'm sosorry.
I was like, oh, but you justkind of.
It's different, it's confusingsometimes and when you're
dealing with juvenile's law, youjust kind of get into.
This is what I do first.
This is what I do.

Speaker 4 (36:58):
And then I was like my gosh I did.
I'm so sorry, but you knowthere are aspects that that
definitely you know carry over,but it's uh, you definitely have
to change gears.
When I was, when I would gofrom the school that first day.
You know i't wear a vest inschool.
There's my one vest laying upthere.
I got two.
I got one in my car, one in my.
Yeah, I got two laying in mybedroom at home and I'm glad we

(37:23):
don't have to go to the roadanymore, but we you'd have to
change gears because when I goto the road, you know you put
the vest back on, you're wearingthings that you don't.
You know I'd put my ass back onmy belt and you know you change
your mentality of how you evenapproach people and talk to

(37:45):
people.
So, yeah, you know it was good.
And then I'll never forget thisI had a big burglary that I'd
worked and I went old school.
I'd worked a burglary and I knewgenerally where the bad guy
didn't know exactly who it was,knew generally where he was from

(38:05):
and what he was doing, and so Ijust set up.
I'd come 10-8 every day and I'dset up and I'd write tickets.
I'd wrote check-8 every day andI'd set up and I'd write
tickets.
I'd wrote check all by myselfand I was writing.
I was writing tickets like justI had.
I mean, it wasn't unusual forme to write 15-20 tickets a day
in this little community.

(38:27):
And somebody finally asked me Iwasn't going to tell them until
I, you know, because we're notworking for a sheriff's
department, we're not paperworkdriven, working for the city.
You're not paperwork driven.
Now there are agencies that are, but certainly not the county.
They asked me they said why areyou picking on us so bad?

(38:49):
I said, well, there's aburglary over here, this place,
and they stole $35,000.
And I said I intend to find thebad guy who did it and I put
his ass in jail and I want toget back as much as I can.
And they said, well, it was oldRoy Joe down there and he lives
up on the hills and he'sprobably got that stuff in his

(39:09):
back shed.
And I'm like, okay, soaggravated enough to yeah, and
that's.
And you know, I learned thatfrom that same guy who let the
juveniles go and uh, they, yeah.
So, long story short, I did alittle more investigating, ended
up getting a search warrantserved it, we we recovered about
$25,000 of stolen stuff and Ihad a case going.

(39:34):
So it was like August 1st whenI served the search warrant.
Well, guess what?
Old dad goes back to schoollike August 10th.
Guess what?
I forgot to take the case tothe grand jury.
Just slap, for God, Because Iwas tired of the road.
Just slapped, forgot, yeah, youknow, because I was man, I was
tired of the road, yeah, time togo back.

(39:55):
And uh, oh, it was maybe themiddle of october and the
sheriff calls me down there.
Him chief deputy just chewed meup one side and down the other.
They said they called me andsaid you did this and that
they're chewing on me.

(40:15):
I said you know what?
You're right, I didn't.
I didn't take it, I forgot allabout it.
It was right then school started.
I forgot about it.
I got going with cross countryand football and radio and
school.
And I said I just forgot aboutit.
I said you're all right.
I said you want to give thetime off or whatever?
I said I've earned it.
And you could visibly see theirshoulders drop because they

(40:40):
were so excited because theywere going to get you on my tail
end, because they just knew Iwas going to come in with 40-11
excuses.
They weren't used to somebodysaying yeah, I did it, I own it
and I took the grand jury, gotan indictment since, got away
for, I think, 11-12 years and itall ends well.
But that's one of those thingswhen you're an SRO, you gotta

(41:05):
keep up with all that stuff.
Yeah, flipping back and forth.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
I did it too, and it was a nice break.
You think, oh man, I'm keepsharp here on the road, you know
they told me when I first ohman.
They told me at first.
They were like, you're going tobe in the schools for three
years.
Okay, then the next thing, youknow, can you do two more years?
Yeah, can you do three moreyears?
I was like, yeah, I can.
Yeah, just keep extending thatrotation, but you know you got

(41:31):
that.
You thought, well, I'm going toget this break and I'm going to,
you know, summer's coming andI'm going to take some vacation
and I'm going to, you know, workhere and do this.
And then you're like man, whendoes school start back?
I mean, I remember thinkingthat I'm like oh my gosh, I
forgot about this, why am Iworking night shifts?
I was a sergeant so I washaving to fill whoever's on

(41:54):
vacation.
I was like I didn't sign up towork third shift on the summers,
but that just happened.

Speaker 4 (42:02):
But I learned a lot, I can honestly say when I was in
the sheriff's department Ieither worked first or second
shift, with the exception of onenight.
One night I worked one thirdshift in 15 years with the
sheriff's department, orwhatever it was, for 21, 20
years with the sheriff'sdepartment I worked one third
shift and in that one night Ihad two DUIs and a murder wow,

(42:27):
am I in a murder.
Yeah, that in and of itself isfunny.
I mean murder's not funny, no,but the whole situation was
hilarious.
And gosh, I had gotten a DUI.
I come out at 23 and got a DUIat 2315.

(42:49):
Oh yeah, I come out of jail andthey give me a reckless driving
complaint.
The UI Take him to jail.
So it's about 130-ish 115, andthey holler at me on the radio
I'm the only unit, 10-8,covering Whitley County.
I'm the only unit.

(43:09):
It's a big county, yeah, it's abig county.
And uh, so they said possibleshooting down in this little
community.
I said, okay, I'll be around.
I was probably 20 minutes away,as hard as I could pedal Big
county, it's probably as big asLaurel, and so I'm flying down

(43:36):
25 towards South End.
It was down on South End.
I get off on Secondary Road.
I get up there.
The trailer I was going to satout on a little hill.
I could see it from a long wayaway.
There were no lights on.
I thought, well, that's odd.
So I come sliding in thedriveway and on the backside of

(43:59):
the hill was a bunch of trailers.
And I'm not throwing shade ontrailers, that's just the way it
was.
And there's probably 15 peopleup there and there's a dead body
in the driveway, so it haddefinitely been a shooting, and
they're running around sayingthey're going to do this and
they're going to do that andthey're going to kill people and

(44:20):
they're going to.
And I'm like calm down.
I said we'll, we'll, we'll workthe problem here.
Yeah Well, boy's mother'slaying or laying on the body and
I'm thinking, gosh, she'skilling all my evidence.
You know, I start I'm really inthe police mode at this point
not detect, but I'm thinkingabout evidence, securing the
crime scene, getting thesepeople out of my crime scene.

(44:41):
I'm by myself.
So I heard a dispatch that saidget me some backup, which
Williamsburg City was alreadycoming to me, so they weren't
that far behind.
You know, I go over and I getmom off the body, give her some
water, which was a water bottleI had just bought for her.
I got and I hadn't even took adrink yet I'm parched, it's in

(45:02):
there, it's.
It's like in the middle of july.
It's humid and hot.
I'm sweating like terrible andI'm dying of thirst.
But I give her my water, puther in the back of my cruiser,
leave the door open and this guycomes up to me and I'm dying of
thirst, but I give her my water, put her in the back of my
cruiser, leave the door open andthis guy comes up to me and I'm
talking to him and he'sactually a witness to what went
on.
So I'm trying to get thisinformation from him about what

(45:24):
went on.
And this guy comes out ofnowhere, from my right-hand side
, and knocks this guy out Onepunch.
He thought he was the bad guy,he thought he was the shooter.
I'm going to kill you.
No, you're not.
I throw him in cuffs after ashort scuffle and stitches.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
He's cuffed.
That's a struggle.

Speaker 4 (45:53):
So I put him in the back of my cruiser on the other
side, so I got mom here drinkingmy water and him on the other
side of the cruiser, bleep.
You know I'm thinking, gosh,this is just, this is out of
control.
So the guy I said you're goingto have to send me in addition
to the corner, send me anambulance, and just had one
knocked out and they're like,okay, they have no clue what zoo

(46:16):
I'm in, all right, and I'vestill got all these people
running around in addition toall this nonsense going on.
Well, this one guy comes up andhe has like one soup tooth and
he says, hey, buddy, what, what?
And he said you know that?
He told me a guy's name.

(46:37):
He said he's still in thetrailer with shotgun.
Well, if you've ever had yourlife passed before your eyes,
this was it.
You know what I'm thinking.
Maybe I should have asked thatfirst.
That probably would have been agood question to ask, but I had
all this other stuff going on,yeah.
So I'm thinking what am I goingto do?

(46:58):
Okay, hey, baby shooter's stillin there.
I knew that would get everybodyaway, because he's done killed
one.
So you know what's two Cheaperby the dozen, and so they scat,
which was kind of a good thing.
It took us a minute to trackthem all down when my backup got
there.
So I go knock on the door of atrailer and I holler his name.

(47:22):
I said hey, police, come on out,throw that shotgun out here and
come on out.
He said you'll kill me.
I said no, I won't.
I said they make me pay for mybullets so I't gonna use one

(47:44):
unless you make.
And uh, he, he, we have someback and forth.
Well, he ends up coming out.
I cuff him.
Well, I got no place to put him.
I got mom in the back seat ofmy cruiser drinking my water,
the other guy sitting in thecuffed, bleating all over my
cruiser.
So I think, think, where am Igoing to put him About that time
?
some backup from Williamsburgrolls in and I said, here, put
him in the cruiser, this is thebad guy, this is the shooter.
And so at that point, ksp rollsin Williamsburg City, the

(48:08):
sheriff rolls in.
They had called him, told him Ihad shooting and all this stuff
.
Everybody said, well, well,what'd you need us for?
You got everything together.
You just don't know.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
I'm gonna ask it looks.

Speaker 4 (48:23):
It looks like I did yeah, you know, the end looked
good and of course the body'sstill laying there, yeah, you
know.
And so the machinery takes overand we start doing our thing.
Crime scene, yeah.
And I get home like at 11o'clock that next morning stayed
out, but you think, well, itcan't be any funnier than this,

(48:51):
right Shit?
Yeah, you know.
So I end up taking the guy downto the county jail, and this
was before.
It was up on the hill whereit's at.
Well, I can't.
Now he's downtown and they're.
They had sent me two knoxcounty troopers.
So I'm saying I knew them both,had knew them well, still good

(49:14):
friends with them to this day.
This guy knew this other guy.
Another guy comes down therethat has to do with more
stitches and he comes up and hesays I want to go to jail.
This trooper says I ain'ttaking you to jail.
He said what do I got to do togo to jail?
He said there's nothing you cando that's going to make me take

(49:36):
you to jail.
At this point time in themorning.
It was like 5 in the morning.
At this point I had 4.30, 5.
And he acts like he's going tohit that trooper.
Go ahead.
The trooper drills, this guyQuack, and I mean that's the
sound it made and I thought,well, now that's something

(50:00):
completely different and at thispoint there's no stitches
involved.
But the guy took about threesteps back and fell off the curb
of the sidewalk and fellbackwards and landed on his head
.
Well, there's where thestitches come in.
Idiot, you know.
And guess what he went to jail.
You know he had to go, he had togo at that point.

(50:22):
But you know, yep, and I knewthat was funny, but I didn't
know it would make him cry andchoke you up Allergies.
So you know and once again thatgoes back to policemen having
this dark sense of humor onlypolicemen would laugh at
everything that I just toldeverybody else, everybody.
I've ever told that story.
That wasn't a police.
They look at me like you needhelp.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
We've talked about the.
We've had to cut some of oursilly you know some stories
we've told like our.
Some stories we've told Ourwives or our parents were like
you've got to take that out,what's wrong with y'all?
And we were like nothing to itand I'm like we better save that
for the Patreon page if we everdo one.
But you can't help.
We just develop a copingmechanism.

(51:10):
We see stuff.
We just say it, sometimesTrying to trying because humor
and dark humor is sometimes theonly way we can get through it.
Yeah, because we've seen somemajor crazy stuff.

Speaker 4 (51:24):
Well, you know, it's talking about crazy stuff and I
mean people, things that wethink are totally normal, other
people, they just don't get it.
They just don't see the worldlike police officers do, and

(51:44):
even police officers sometimesdon't see it for what it really
is.
Oh yeah, when I first started,this was my third or fourth day
on the job.
When I first started, this wasmy third or fourth day on the
job we got a domestic in atrailer park right off 25E there

(52:07):
in Corbin and once again, youknow, I'm three, four days,
three days working.
You know, and I'm riding withthis officer Guy runs out the
back and it's dusky, dark, it'sabout 830.
I started, you know, august 8th, so it's probably August 11th,
august 12th.
It's dusky, dark, still prettylight out.
We're running.
He ran out the back of thetrailer and he's running down

(52:28):
through some trees.
Now, the grass was cut becauseit was nice down in there, you
know, and it went down towardsHeberlin, supply and Corbin and
I'm chasing him through thewoods.
Well, this guy had two thingsgoing against him.
Number one I was 26 years old,in really good shape, about 185

(52:49):
pounds, benching, about 230, ingood shape, running.
So I, you know, and I'd run incollege, I still had that
residual good.
I was in good shape.
That was the first thingagainst him.
The second thing that wentagainst him he was night blind,
oh gosh.
And he turned around and lookedat me seeing where I was behind

(53:10):
him.
And he turns around and runsslap dab into a tree.
I mean kapow, well, sonnyBono'd it.
Yeah, that's cold man, I likeit.
Well, you know, at this point Ireally didn't know how to cuff

(53:31):
anybody.
I mean, I hadn't learneddiddly-doo, so I get the cuffs
on him.
I'm dragging him back up thehill.
He's bleeding like a stuck pig.
He's got a big cut right downthe strength of his forehead
ends, at the top of the bridgeof his nose, top of his nose
where he ran into the tree.
Well, the guy I was riding withwas a little older, a little

(53:52):
fatter.
Well, the guy I was riding withwas a little older, a little
fatter, a little lazier.
He's like you can't be whippingthem like that.
You're not injured.
You've got to go to court.
I said I didn't do it.
I said he ran into a tree.
He said that'll never stand up.
Nobody would believe that heran into a tree.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
And the guy said no, I ran into a tree tree, he said
he's bullied you into sayingthat.
No, I didn't.

Speaker 4 (54:15):
He ran into a tree.
You know.
He said no, really I ran into atree.
He said he didn't.
He said he's been nothing.
He said he was completelyprofessional.
You know and convinced that youdid it yeah yeah, but he was
just convinced that I hadwhipped Now on down the line,
him and another officer.
This was probably I hadn't goneto the academy yet, but I was

(54:39):
out on my own.
They holler at me and they saidcome on, we're going to service
warrant.
And it was on this old cat whojust fought the police.
Every.
It didn't matter what, he justfought the police that.
It didn't matter what, he justfought the police.
That was just part of him goingto jail.
It was fighting the police.
And I really didn't know thatgoing in.

(55:01):
You know, I had, like I said,I'd probably been out two months
at this point, been on my owntwo weeks because we all rode
six weeks and then we were outon our own.
This is old days, right, own,yeah, this is old days, you know
.
And uh, so they three cars rollin there and they said here's
warrant, go service.
Aren't y'all gonna go serve?
No, I said this is on you,you're gonna go serve us, okay,

(55:23):
not a big deal.
So it was a two-story apartmentbuilding and I go upstairs,
knock on door.
He answers door.
I said hi, t-dot.
I said I got this warrant foryou.
You're going to go to jail withus.
He said I'm not going.
I said, oh yeah, you are.
And he said, no, I'm not.
I said, no, you're going, oneone way or the other you're

(55:46):
going.
And the fight was on and wefought, all, made about two laps
around the apartment, one, one,something down the hall and we
both went down the stairs not onour feet and we roll out and
the fight's on still, they stoodthere and watched and I finally
get to cuss on him and, youknow, got a brand-new uniform on

(56:10):
yeah, I mean two weeks old, youknow, I've been out two weeks.
Destroyed Pockets mean twoweeks old, you know I've been
out two weeks.
Yeah, destroyed Pockets.
Torn, the badge hanging.
It was terrible.
I was madder than fire, but Ididn't get it.
Then I was mad at them for nothelping me number one.
And then I get it because theywanted to know I wasn't a cower.

(56:35):
Yeah, that I wouldn't run froma fight.
They wouldn't let me get my asswhipped, they just wanted to
make sure that I was going to,that you had it.

Speaker 2 (56:43):
Yeah, they would jump in if it looked like you
started losing.

Speaker 3 (56:45):
Yeah, if I had started losing, they wouldn't
say that you'd do it, yeah, andwin or lose they were going to
Right.

Speaker 4 (56:53):
They didn't care whether they won or If you, as a
police officer, if you sayyou've never lost a fight you
just started yesterday or a lot,I had a guy.

Speaker 3 (57:03):
I never won my first fight until I became a police
officer.

Speaker 4 (57:05):
I haven't lost many dang fights in my life.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
That's awful.
I've got to learn how to dothis better.

Speaker 4 (57:10):
Yeah, you know, and I think the best police officers
kind of walked on the dark sidejust a little bit before they
became police officers and theyhad been in some fights because
they know how to take a punch.
Right Now I fought a guy.
He was an MMA fighter, he wasmad depressive, off his
medication and he had anotherdiagnosis and we ended up four

(57:35):
of us falling.
It took four of us to get himin cuffs and he hit me with the
backhand.
I had him in chokehold prior tothis and nobody had ever
escaped one of my chokeholds inall my years as a police officer
and he escaped the chokeholdfirst on me.
I had met a chokehold before.
I was like, hey, gum, whathappened here?

(57:57):
Jeez, I get out of it, you know, but I might not if those other
officers hadn't been there.
But he, I'm beside him and hehas been with a left hand, back
hand, right in the right in theface and I'm laying back in the
we were fighting in a ditch andI'm laying back in those wet
leaves looking up at the prettyclouds, saying, oh, the clouds

(58:20):
are so pretty.
The bird's twerping, wait, whatam I supposed to?
Oh, yeah, I'm in the fight.
So we jumped back in the fightand we get to cuss on him and
they're in the front.
Well, you know what that means.
These can't fight, you know.
So we take them off, fightsback on, we roll them over and

(58:41):
get to cuss.
Um well, we call her for backuptrooper, who y'all probably
know shows up, he's.
He's sitting there holding him.
He's sitting on.
He's got a knee in his back.
He's holding him.
See, he's sitting up on theroadway because it was on a main
road.
And that guy says he's laughing.

(59:01):
This guy has just whipped fourpolice officers.
All four of us went to thehospital.
I spent three weeks off work.
He kicked me in the knee and itwas terrible, but he was
laughing.
And listen, he, he took.
I mean, we hit him witheverything we had and he was

(59:25):
laughing.
He said he taught you.
He said you need to teach theseguys how to fight.
That's with their ass.
And we're like yeah, you did,but you're going to jail.

Speaker 2 (59:35):
We won, you won the fight, we won the battle.

Speaker 4 (59:39):
You won the battle, we won the war.

Speaker 3 (59:42):
Listen, I've fought some people, especially when
they got wild on meth orsomething.
Man, they'd take every one ofus and I'm like just let him go
we can't win this.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
It got to the point when we would respond to Roger
yeah, that I remember the lasttime that we did.
Didn't even have to fight himthat time, but nobody had talked
about this.
But I roll up first.
Two cars come in behind me.
I come out, I pop Taser already.
I look behind me.
Everybody else that got out ofthe car already got their Taser

(01:00:13):
out.
Everybody's got the same ideawe ain't fighting this guy.

Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
People just like to fight yeah and so, and, or
they're just high.
They just don't know a littlebetter.
And every time you deal withthem they're high.

Speaker 4 (01:00:27):
We Corbin there for a while was kind of like a
revolving door on people's wayout to KSP.
There was a while it was kindof like a revolving door on
people's way out to KSP.
There was a trooper I wastraining.
He wasn't a trooper.
Then he was a corporate policeofficer.
I tell you his name.
I won't say it here Once againto protect the innocent and the
guilty.

(01:00:49):
I was training him he had two orthree cases going on.
I was training him and he hadtwo or three cases going on and
we had just and they gave us outa call.
We were coming off a call andthere were two units there.
So I said you go on back to thePD and I'll catch that call
because it's nothing.
And I said it's B is called,I'll take it.

(01:01:11):
And he said okay, I got tocatch up on my cases.
He had an accident or two, youknow how you do trainees.
And I said it's B, it's called,I'll take it.
And he said okay, I've got tocatch up on my cases.
He had an accident or two.
You know how you do trainees.
Powerful, this cat's name Idon't remember his real name,
but we called him Popeye.
He was 5'4", 145 pounds and hewhipped my ass all over 7th and

(01:01:34):
Kentucky for seven minutesbefore I got back up and I got.
It's the only time I evercussed on the police radio and I
was in the fight and I holleredon the radio.
I said get me some Some help.

Speaker 3 (01:01:46):
Yeah, some help, that's what I said and the funny
thing, was is.

Speaker 4 (01:01:52):
I saw they were.
All the units were going northon Maine and I said they
hollered at me.
I said 403, you need backups.
I got this.
It's Popeye.
He's 5'4", 145 pounds.
But once again he was off hismeds and I couldn't hurt him In
that fight.
I broke the orbit around hiseye, I broke his right arm, I

(01:02:13):
did something to his pelvis.
He spent three days inintensive care.
I did all that and it stilltook three of us to get him in
cuffs.
Wow, and the funny thing, we hada major out with us.
Deputy chief.
It was on second shift shiftand it was cold.

(01:02:35):
It was just starting to snow.
You know you've fought so hardor exerted so much energy that
you're tasting blood.
You know you're just done.
You just you've got nothingleft.
That's where I was and I.
He was in the back of mycruiser and I sat down on the
cruise and I went.
That's where I was and he wasin the back of my cruiser and I
sat down on the cruiser and Iwent, ugh, and I started gagging

(01:02:57):
.
He had defecated on himself atsome point during the fight and
I got out of the car and I wentup to the major and I said we're
going to have to call a recordfor my cruiser.
He said what's the matter?
We won't start Because we hadjunk.
Back then when I worked atCorbin, this was an 85 slip top
that would do 85 downhill withtailwind and it was junk and I

(01:03:22):
said no, it starts fine.
I said Popeye, shit his pants,craft his pants.

Speaker 3 (01:03:27):
Sorry, we're good, we got it.
We got it.
What do you call it?
We got it worded explicit.
Yeah, it's explicit.
Okay, so he had just shit hispants.
We got it.
What do you call it?
We got it worded explicit onour thing.
Yeah, it was explicit.

Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
Okay.
So he had just shit his pantsand I said I can't stand the
smell.
It's gagging me.
I said normally it wouldn'tbother me a bit.
He said he took a long, deepbreath inside and he said I'll
drive your cruiser back.
So he drove the cruiser back.
He did, man.

(01:03:56):
I tell you what I it was.
It was terrible because we hadholding cells there at the pd
and we couldn't sell they stillhave those?
yeah, I think they still do.
I was sitting in there backthen.
We killed the forest at corbinwhen we made an arrest you have
to do all this other stuffarrest data sheets and this and
that and the other and citationand all this stuff, and I'm
sitting there doing my paperworkfixing and we'd call the

(01:04:17):
ambulance for him.
I could still smell him.
So I'm sitting there trying totype or write up my citation,
you know.
And those guys are walking by melaughing their asses off.
You know, oh yeah, but I spenttwo weeks off work after that

(01:04:39):
fight.
I hit him so hard, I jammed upmy wrist and I had to, and the
funny thing was that that waswhen I actually thought, you
know, this is fun, even thoughall that, it's different.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:05:00):
You know I was in the Marines and I got beat up a lot
, choked out, I mean all kindsof stuff, but it was just more
platoons challenging each other.
They wouldn't let it get to you.
Some guys were beasts and theywould choke you out and beat you
up pretty good, but theyweren't going to let you get
really hurt.

(01:05:21):
But our business is a littledifferent.
I remember I took this guy upto the hospital.
He was breaking in over here atthe John Deere dealership,
stealing stuff or whatever.
We caught him and he was alittle intoxicated and we were
putting him in the car and hecut his eye a little bit.

(01:05:42):
You know how thin that is like.
When he was getting in hestumbled Like it was legit.
We didn't put him in, you know,hurt him Because we was already
10, 15 glad.
It was like he was late too andI take him to jail.
We're not, we can't take him.
He's bleeding.
I'm like put a Band-Aid on that.
So we get to the hospital andwe're having to wait.

(01:06:07):
You know how you have to waitin the ER and this one is at the
old one and I'm looking.
I'm like I smelled, I was likeI think you got marijuana on you
, man, and I pulled a little bitout of his pocket and I wasn't
going to charge him with itbecause I've already got him
with burglary and some otherstuff.
So I'm like man, you know whocares, even though you know back
in the day if I found a seed,you would go on, but this is one

(01:06:29):
.
I was like I've got enough,I've already wrote the citation.
Well, that just.
I think he thought it was okaybecause he we, they'd taken his
cuffs off to treat him and Ididn't have him to the bed or
nothing like that.
Well, he starts trying towrestle around with me a little
bit and one of the nurses cameover.

(01:06:50):
It was a male nurse.
Well, he grabbed him right bythe throat.
This guy did my prisoner.
He started choking this nurseand I was like what is she?
So I grabbed him.
I'm like what is she?
So I grabbed him.
I'm like whoa, stop.
So he decides to grab me by thethroat.
I was just like, finally, and Ihit him.

(01:07:13):
I mean, he had to.
He was going backwards, he wasstarting the already snore sound
.
It was really cool.
But to me he thought, well,well, that was awesome, let me
do it again.
As he was falling, I threw thislittle ugly hook around and
broke my hand.
Yeah, I was out for six weekson that.
That doc.
The doctor was watching it all,dr wilson and he was like he

(01:07:35):
said that first punch was a hellof a shot.
He said you're gonna need a,you're gonna need a x-ray on
that sacral.
I'm like what?
I look down and you know thatbone's sticking up.
I start getting getting queasyabout to pass out.
I'm like you're alright, you'realright.
So they went back there andx-rayed it and all that.
He's like, yeah, you got abroken hand, but I missed six
weeks on that and you know, yougot other things Palm Hill or

(01:08:02):
Elbow Strike, you know all thisstuff.
I'm like, yeah, but I knockedthat dude out, slaps out.

Speaker 4 (01:08:10):
You talk about a bad guy choking a nurse.
You ever heard of a nursechoking a bad guy?
No, no, I fought this guy.
He was on PCP.

Speaker 3 (01:08:21):
That's a rarity.

Speaker 4 (01:08:25):
This was old school and you know what's funny.
You know, uh, this guy, you'llknow him too.
Uh, and I'm not going to usehis name, oh yeah, I was
training him and we got in afight and I knew that he was a

(01:08:48):
short-timer in corporate PD andof course he was Great officer.
I mean, he was really good.
He would have made a greatroguenew at any agency.
Oh yeah, I mean, I understandwhy he ended up where he ended
up, you know.
But I get it.
But he once again, you know hewas doing paperwork or something

(01:09:10):
.
I was training him and we'dalready been there earlier in
the evening.
It was no big deal.
I was going back the secondtime.
I said, don't worry about it,I'll take care of it.
So I get there and this guytells me I'm going to go in the
kitchen and get a knife and cutyour heart out and eat it.
I'm like, yeah, you are, comeon.
And of course we fight.

(01:09:31):
And the ambulance crew wasalready there because he was
acting so crazy.
They called the ambulance firstand two other corp units get
there who were worthless as titson a boar hog.
I ain't even lying, I'm talkingto this guy and they're
standing there going, ooh, ooh,ooh, I'm helping, not jumping in

(01:09:51):
, oh yeah, you know, come on,guys, I ended up getting one of
them back later on in life, butthey're not helping me.
And finally I get him in achokehold.
And it was all good when he wasin a chokehold, but the minute
I let up, man, the fight wasback on.
So one of the ambulance guys Ikeep him in a chokehold.

(01:10:13):
One of the ambulance guys endsup cuffing him, not the police,
he takes my cuffs and cuffs him.
So we get him to the hospital.
That's embarrassing, oh yeah.
Oh, it's terrible.
We get him to the hospital andthey put him in four-point
restraints and this nursehappened to be married to a
trooper Great good trooper andshe was a great nurse.

(01:10:34):
And he was in there and he wasscreaming and yelling and they
were going to use activatedcharcoal, which is fun if you've
never seen that.
No, I've seen, yeah, it's somuch fun to watch.
And uh, this, this guy, hit theceiling, uh, when he, when he
got rid of the charcoal.
But uh, he was screaming andcussing going on and and he was

(01:10:59):
trying to kick and he got apinched on her leg or something
Made her mad, but he called hera bitch and evidently that was
her trigger word and she grabbedhim by the throat I mean cut
his air off and she said I'vehad about enough of your shit.
She said you calm down and shesaid I'll fix you.

(01:11:21):
And he said she let off.
He said you calm down and shesaid or I will fix you.
And he said she let off.
He said fix me.
And she said send me a gardenhose catheter.
I have never heard a man screamlike that in my entire life.
And while we were waiting onher to bring this I don't know
what kind of catheter, it wasbig Just catheter scares me.
I think I've got a do not cathcard, catherine scares me, yeah,

(01:11:43):
I think I've got a do not cathcard.
You know she says you need apure sample right and I said yes
, ma'am.
Whatever you say yeah, whateveryou say yes, ma'am, you're
charged.
And I never, ever, ever, hearda man scream like that, because
you know they normally lube itup and use that cream and all
that stuff.
She said you're tough, you canhandle it.

(01:12:04):
I'm like oh my gosh, it was thecraziest thing I've ever seen
in my life.
Deserved, he earned that, I'mtelling you it's never fun.

Speaker 3 (01:12:21):
when you got, I had one up there.
I fought all the way in the ER.
It was my DUIs how I met.
Bring him in the ER.
We fought all the way to thehallway.
I'm dragging him, we'refighting, I'm calling for backup
.
Anyway, I get up there, the guykicks a tray of whatever
needles.
To this day, one of the nursesis like you saved my life that

(01:12:42):
day.
Well, they came in there tocath him too.
They pulled his pants down.
They started laughing at him.
I was like, oh my God, what'sworse?

Speaker 4 (01:12:56):
He's probably trying to hide from that cheap stuff,
you know your catheter's coming,Trying to climb up back home
stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:13:02):
You know your Catherine's coming.

Speaker 4 (01:13:02):
We're back, trying to climb up back home.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
We used to have an unwritten rule on Night Shift.
Anyways, if one of us got shotor something, don't let them cut
our pants off.
It's the last thing we do.
We're already shot.
We don't need a bunch of.
Umt last minutes.
I got blood loss.

Speaker 4 (01:13:25):
Yeah, I just got out of the pool.
It's funny, yeah, shrinkage,shrinkage, shrinkage.
It's been in the cold, thepool's cold.

Speaker 3 (01:13:33):
Gosh, he does cool stuff too.
I mean, how many ballgames doyou think you've called in your
life?
I mean, you caught a little bithere this year with my brothers
, with the Cardinals.

Speaker 4 (01:13:43):
Yeah, you know, I started in 1987.
I was on the radio station downhome and we did Williamsburg
football and basketball and thenwe did that in 87, 88, 89, we
switched over to Whitley County.

(01:14:03):
We did all their football gamesand probably half their
basketball games.
We didn't travel a lot and thenafter that we would only do
boys' and girls' doubleheaders,girls' games, but we would do a
lot of boys games.

(01:14:24):
So I would probably do 20basketball games a year and then
later on we started doing allfootball and then we would do
probably 25 boys basketballgames and maybe 15 girls
basketball games.
We did that for a number ofyears.

Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
Keep you hopping.

Speaker 4 (01:14:41):
Yeah, we did that for a number of years.
Keep you hopping.
Yeah, I was moving all the time.
Bless my wife's heart.
She put up with that for somany years, not to mention your
policing.

Speaker 3 (01:15:00):
You're also gone to these games.
You've got to do what you gotto do, man.
There ain't no money inpolicing.

Speaker 4 (01:15:04):
You know well, there certainly wasn't.
Back then, when I started atCorbin PD, I made $5.15 an hour,
sure To start, but I wanted sobadly to be a police officer,
yeah, you know, and to make endsmeet you had to work a bushel
basket full overtime.
Yeah, you know, and that's ifthey were giving it back to me.

Speaker 3 (01:15:25):
Yeah, back when I first started in 0-2, 0-3, when
we come, we get into theovertime, you got to take it off
.
Got to take it off, uh-huh,okay, sometimes that day.
All right, this guy's gettingoff at this time, so we need you
to take off your overtime inthe middle of the shift.

Speaker 4 (01:15:45):
That's wrong yeah, things are better now but I
guess from where I sit, we'vegot it made pretty good.
But you know this week has beentough on first responders
period, whether you're firemenor EMS dispatchers, police

(01:16:10):
officers, everybody.
It's been really really toughbecause we've had this tragedy
here in Laurel County and I knowthose guys, aside from being
just physically tired, workingextended hours, having to, just
the mental toll that it takes isjust horrendous on these guys
and people don't see thatbecause police officers are

(01:16:33):
tough, they've got to be or theycouldn't last.

Speaker 3 (01:16:36):
What is today?
Today's the 23rd, so lastFriday we're a week out.
Yeah, the 23rd, so last Fridaywe had the tornado EF4 tornado
that really just did a from.

Speaker 2 (01:16:47):
Somerset all the way to Laurel County.

Speaker 3 (01:16:50):
In Russell County all the way to London, laurel
County, into the London city,damaged a thousand homes or
something?

Speaker 2 (01:17:00):
27 fatalities.

Speaker 3 (01:17:01):
Yeah, 19 right now.

Speaker 1 (01:17:03):
I think they said and you know I had an aunt that
lost everything.

Speaker 3 (01:17:09):
I've got friends, we have so many coworkers that work
for the school system that wereaffected and it's one of the
worst things I've ever seen.
And you know, going out just tomy aunt's and moving stuff and
seeing the.
You know I went out that nightto find her and just when I was

(01:17:29):
out there that night it was theeeriest.
And I've worked some crazystuff.
I've seen some, you know, butthat was the most helpless I've
ever felt in law enforcementbecause I was like I don't know,
I don't know how to do to fixmyself right now to go help
somebody.
And those folks that went outthere and did that with friends

(01:17:51):
and family and coworkers thatwere injured and killed was
beyond anything we could everexpect.
That's just true heroes andthey've shined this week.
I'm impressed with how thiscommunity has came together, put
everything aside and cametogether yeah because it's been

(01:18:12):
kind of weirdly political anyway, and to see us get past some of
that stuff and come back islike this is who really this
town, and it's not just law,this kind of I mean the, the you
?
know people from all over allover and the charities that you
know like, uh, what's the onesthat the, the merc, is it the

(01:18:33):
food, mercy, mercy, kitchen, allmy chefs, yeah, mercy.
And then the, uh, samaritan'spurse, some of these folks that
I've got to sit and talk to,well, you know we came out early
.

Speaker 4 (01:18:47):
We didn't come out early, we came out today and
then had to go up to CarmichaelCommunity Church and unload a
couple of vehicles of donateditems.
You know, our whole departmentwas there and that came from
bell county board of education.

(01:19:07):
Yeah, and give them a shout outand yeah, that you know.
Uh, there's in sports andwhatever they're, they're rivals
, yeah, but when, when it comesnut cutting time, oh, you find
out.
You know people, you know andyou know for me, I live in
Whitley County, I live in Corbin, and I told my wife that night.

(01:19:30):
I said I said I've got to getready and go up there.
I said we were going out oftown the next day and she said
she talked me out of it againstyou know, and she said if you go
, you won't come back.
And I said okay.
So we went and I was going tosee Billy Idol in Nashville and

(01:19:52):
I'd wanted to see him foreverand I bought the tickets in
January.
I had a good time but my heartwasn't as much in it as it
normally would have been BecauseI was worried about larp, right
, yeah, and uh came back.
We came back sunday and uh,when I was going north, leaving
town, you know, going tonashville, I went up to 80 and

(01:20:13):
across her parkway, you know,over to bone green when I saw
the devastation.

Speaker 2 (01:20:20):
Yeah, you drive right by it, you know, and file.
Yeah, you know, and I was justI was killed.

Speaker 4 (01:20:23):
And the man said are you crying?
And I'm like, no, I'm notcrying.
But you know, because policemendon't do that, we're not
supposed to, I'm not crying,you're crying, but yeah, and
that's.
And Monday, you know, we wereout of school, it didn't work.
Sunday, you know, we were outof school, it didn't work, and I
got up, me and Jeff Anderson,another one of our officers we

(01:20:44):
got together, we went over intothe devastation zone.
We worked, not because anybody,because that's what we do,
that's what we do as policeofficers and servant leaders.
And this week, you know, we'vedone stuff.

(01:21:06):
Next week our department'sgoing to relieve London a little
bit and help them out, becausethey're kids.
Somebody's stealing a policecar.

Speaker 3 (01:21:14):
Is it yours?

Speaker 4 (01:21:15):
No, it's not mine.
Is it mine?

Speaker 3 (01:21:18):
No, it's my old charger's.
I don't know who it could be myfavorite, just you know there
is a huge rivalry between,especially, south Laurel and
Corbin and you see these Corbinkids up there in some of these
places, these football teams andworking.

(01:21:42):
You know real close and knoweach other Because the district
tournament games were Monday andWednesday here and you could
just it was more than just abaseball and softball game.

Speaker 4 (01:21:57):
You know, you're right, and people don't get it
until they've been through, getit until they go through it.
And you know, we've all beenthrough all kinds of natural
disasters floods, ice storms,snow storms, this, that and the
other but nothing compares towhat I've seen.
No, but listen, hats off to allfirst responders, firemen, the

(01:22:21):
unsung heroes, dispatchersAbsolutely yeah, all first
responders, firemen, dispatch,the unsung heroes, dispatchers
absolutely yeah, you know, andI've worked with some wonderful
dispatchers, of course, lesleatherman, who was a dispatcher
, and one of the best.
Everyone sit behind the mic,you know, and, uh, we're all
missing.
Yeah, uh, it's just, uh, it'stragic.

(01:22:43):
But and you know, we wereworking I looked around, saw
these people and I'm thinkinghow can we come back?
How can anybody come back fromthis?
How can we come back from thisas an individual, these people
who lost everything house I wasworking at, the wind blew so
hard, it tore the carpet off thefloor.
Yeah, the house is gone, but ittore the carpet off the floor
too.

(01:23:03):
And how did he come back fromthat?
But how did he come back fromhis community lost 19 people and
some wonderful people, man, youknow, uh, but that's the great
thing about where we live inkentucky.
We've got that mountain bloodin us and we don't know any
other way than to stand up, dustyourself off, put one foot in

(01:23:26):
front of the other and keepgoing, and that's where we'll be
.
We'll still come back from this.
Yeah, I looked at.

Speaker 3 (01:23:36):
December of 21 is when Mayfield got wiped out,
western Kentucky.
I was looking at their what itlooks like now before you know,
and I know you know they hit theheart of downtown there.
It takes time, it takes, ittakes togetherness and that's

(01:24:00):
all and just love and patience.
And we just got to get getthrough this shock of funerals
and they're already starting tohappen.
I know it's been just tough.
We got a lot of grieving to gobefore the rebuild stuff even

(01:24:20):
happens as friends and familyare devastated right now.
So, yeah, we'll, uh, we'll endit right there.
I know it's not on the mostpositive note, but well, no.

Speaker 4 (01:24:35):
I think it is positive.
We all agree that we're goingto come back.

Speaker 2 (01:24:39):
We're going to come back stronger and better yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:24:41):
Yeah, this time is been.
Time has been tough, but yousee what we really really are
capable of as a community, andjust not London Laurel County,
but the extended community, ourneighbors, like in Corbin and
Whitley and Rock, you see, allyour surrounding counties, not

(01:25:04):
to mention they're coming fromeverywhere across the United
States.
It's been pretty neat.
We'll conclude it and we'lljust keep praying for our
community and lift us up andmake sure that we're okay
because there's going to be sometough times ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:25:26):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (01:25:28):
Thanks again, dave, appreciate you, brother.

Speaker 4 (01:25:30):
We'll do it again.
I've got a bunch more goodstories.
Oh yeah, We'll have some moresitting here.

Speaker 2 (01:25:36):
Enjoy.
Thank you All right, catch youon the next one.