(The Blaze) – During a Monday press conference, a Kentucky sheriff blasted the media’s coverage of recent police-involved shootings and even expressed relief that a 25-year-old man shot by one of his deputies on Sunday was “white.”
Nelson County Sheriff Ed Mattingly first told reporters that the officers involved in the incident are “good men” who have no history of prior disciplinary problems.
When a reporter asked him if he was concerned about backlash from the community following the shooting of 25-year-old John Kennedy Fenwick, the sheriff revealed that he was glad to hear he was a white man. Fenwick is reportedly still in critical condition at a hospital in Louisville.
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“We are glad that he is white, and we shouldn’t have to be worried about that. We do not want any backlash or violence in this community because people have been misinformed,” he said. “I think that the public needs to know how the criminal justice system works and what officers are able to do. And the media has not done a very good job of informing the public.”
The sheriff vowed to be transparent about the investigation into the shooting and reiterated that they “don’t want those type of troubles in our community,” referring to recent cases that have sparked violent protests.
He also called the shooting a “terrible thing,” but something that is “part of the job.”
Watch the video from Mattingly’s joint press conference with the Bardstown Police Department (Relevant remarks begin at 12:25):
WHAS-TV outlines how police said the shooting unfolded in Bardstown, Kentucky:
Bardstown Police Chief Rick McCubbin said a K9 police officer, who was identified as Kyler Wright, was pursuing Fennwick who was driving a red pick-up when the suspect threw the truck in reverse, backing into Wright’s vehicle. McCubbin said Wright did fire his weapon several times. Wright’s vehicle was then no longer able to pursue Fennwick.
McCubbin said Fennwick then drove off and encountered the first of two Nelson County sheriff’s deputies, who were identified as Deputy Bryan Voils and Sgt. Jason Allison. Fennwick struck Allison’s vehicle at a high rate of speed and the deputy’s vehicle burst into flames. McCubbin said Fennwick then fled this scene and encountered the second Nelson County sheriff’s deputy. He said Voils was able to stop Fennwick’s vehicle and attempted to get him out of the vehicle at gunpoint. McCubbin said a struggle ensued and Fennwick tried to disarm the deputy and that is when Voils fired his weapon.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/05/13/listen-to-kentucky-sheriffs-blunt-statement-to-media-about-white-suspect-shot-by-one-of-his-deputies/
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