Off-duty Ky. police officer fatally shoots man after being contacted about ‘prowler,’ state police say
Kentucky State Police are investigating two separate officer-involved shootings that occurred Sunday, leaving one man dead in Whitley County and another wounded in Wolfe County.
In the first shooting, state police said a neighbor had contacted an off-duty officer with the Corbin Police Department at home about a prowler. When the officer went outside, state police said Phillip N. Davenport, 20, of Corbin, “confronted” him.
“The officer and Davenport became involved in an altercation, during which the officer discharged his agency’s issued firearm striking Davenport,” state police said.
Davenport was pronounced dead at Baptist Health in Corbin. The officer, who was not named, was not injured.
The shooting happened on Dogwood Cove. State police said they were called to investigate just after 3:30 a.m.
The second shooting Sunday involved a state trooper in Wolfe County.
State police said they were called to Hoscat Lane, in Pine Ridge, at about 11:30 a.m. regarding a “physical domestic complaint.”
When the trooper arrived, state police said he found a man in a vehicle and gave several loud commands for him to get out, but the man refused.
“Since the subject was not responding to verbal commands, the trooper approached the vehicle and attempted to remove the male subject,” state police said in a news release. “The male subject again refused to comply with the trooper’s verbal directions and accelerated his vehicle while dragging the trooper a short distance.
“The trooper fired his agency issued firearm striking the male subject and ending the encounter.”
The man was taken to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital. State police said charges are pending.
State police said the trooper sustained minor injuries but didn’t require further medical attention.
There have been at least four other officer-involved shootings in Kentucky in the past several weeks. Those shootings happened in Logan, Laurel, Bullitt and Grayson counties. All involved sheriff’s deputies.
Last Thursday, Logan County sheriff’s deputies fired shots at a Hopkinsville man who drove a vehicle at them outside the Walmart in Russellville, state police said. The man, who had an outstanding warrant, later died.
On Feb. 6, a Laurel County deputy shot a man who was lying in a tree line pointing a gun at deputies, state police said. A person who lived on the property had called for help that night, saying a man was in the tree line behind the house threatening to shoot them. When the deputies arrived, the man, Michael Collins, refused orders to drop the gun, state police said. Collins was taken to the hospital with injuries to his shoulder and abdomen, state police said.
In Bullitt County, state police said a man died Jan. 31, after being shot by a sheriff’s deputy. Kentucky State Police said deputies with the Bullitt County Sheriff’s Office were responding to a call about a vehicle parked in the middle of Cedar Creek Road near the Jefferson County line just before midnight.
“At some point while deputies tried to get the suspect to exit the vehicle, the suspect took off, striking a deputy’s cruiser and nearly striking deputies on foot,” state police said in a news release. “It was at that time a deputy fired his weapon striking the suspect.”
And on Jan. 21, a Grayson County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed Brian Abbott, a convicted sex offender who state police said charged at the deputy with knives.
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 10:45 PM.
