When I was a young police officer in 1965, I encountered a situation involving the use of force when, in attempting to apprehend a man who had failed to attend Court for 300 traffic tickets, he started his '64 Chevy and tried to run over my foot. I pulled my pistol and fired just as he was passing by and I fired again when I was standing behind him. He was dead according to the ambulance staff. I was a Black man and an Officer in Kentucky with the authority to decide how to use this force and assist this gentleman in understanding that the 300 citations had become 300 misdemeanors: each carrying 10 days jail time. I had an interview with an IIB ( Internal Investigation Branch) Officer which is standard and I was moved to another part of Kentucky to work as a State Trooper but they told the locals where the incident occurred that I had moved on to another state entirely. Click here.

When I was a young police officer in 1965, I encountered a situation involving the use of force when, in attempting to apprehend a man who had failed to attend Court for 300 traffic tickets, he started his '64 Chevy and tried to run over my foot. I pulled my pistol and fired just as he was passing by and I fired again when I was standing behind him. He was dead according to the ambulance staff. I was a Black man and an Officer in Kentucky with the authority to decide how to use this force and assist this gentleman in understanding that the 300 citations had become 300 misdemeanors: each carrying 10 days jail time. I had an interview with an IIB ( Internal Investigation Branch) Officer which is standard and I was moved to another part of Kentucky to work as a State Trooper but they told the locals where the incident occurred that I had moved on to another state entirely.

I can't say that an officer should be fired and charged in every instance where force is used. That would be unfair when he risks his life every day in discharging his duty. But, there are instances when the Police Service is demeaned by open and unnecessary abuses of power and force when a trial on the issue is warranted to defend the integrity of the system and the Police Service.

June 1994,

Seargant Axel Woolsey, Kentucky State Troopers.