Posted on 12/31/2008 5:50:56 AM PST by earlJam
Boone officer shoots, kills Nicholas County woman on her farm
By Steve Lannen - slannen@herald-leader.com
A dispute over a horse could be the reason behind a deadly shooting in Nicholas County involving a sheriff's deputy.
Scotty Hill, a five-year veteran with the Boone sheriff's department, shot Brenda May Pollitt on her property in rural Nicholas County after she threatened him with a pistol, according to Kentucky State Police.
Pollitt, 55, was pronounced dead at the scene at 2630 Headquarters Road, according to a state police press release.
The shooting occurred a little before 11:45 p.m. Monday.
It appears that Hill, along with his wife and daughter, went to the farm to buy a horse, Nicholas County Sheriff Dick Garrett said. Pollitt's nephew was selling the horse, he said.
Pollitt was angry and came out to the barn with a .22-caliber pistol and pointed it at Hill, Garrett said.
"She backed him up with the gun. He told her to put the gun down. She didn't ... and then he did what he needed to do," Garrett said.
Hill shot Pollitt with his pistol, the sheriff confirmed.
After questioning people on Tuesday, state police said Pollitt was evicting her nephew from her house and had given him until midnight to remove his property including a horse.
Hill came to the farm to take the horse and it was loaded into a trailer. For some unknown reason, Pollitt produced a pistol and then ordered the men to unload the horse from the trailer, Detective Sgt. Jeremy Murrell said.
"For some reason we don't know she continued to threaten this deputy and that ultimately lead to her being shot," Murrell said.
An autopsy was performed Tuesday in Frankfort, he said.
When he returns from days off on Friday, Hill will be placed on administrative duties pending the outcome of the state police investigation, according to a statement from Boone County Sheriff Michael A. Helmig.
Boone County Sheriff's Lt. Col. Rob Reuthe said the department could not comment on the details of the shooting because the investigation is being handled by state police. Helmig has talked to Hill, he said.
"Obviously he's rattled," Reuthe told the Kentucky Enquirer. "He's a family guy."
No charges were filed against Hill. State police will present their investigation to the Nicholas County commonwealth's attorney who will present the case to a grand jury, Murrell said.
Before becoming a sheriff's deputy, Hill, 36, was a Newport Police officer.
CCourtney wrote on 12/31/2008 07:19:35 AM:
Yea, here we go again Carlisle, there was no reason for the policmac to unload 6 shots in that little 55 year old woman, he could have wounded her if he felt he was in danger, I call it murder, but he is a worthless cop , so he'll get away with it, anyone else would be in jail for murder, but that is Nichols County, and they uphold worthless cops.
I love those sort of comments. “Couldn’t he just shoot the gun out of her hand like on the TV?” LOL
I always get a kick out of the people who think that LEOs should shoot to wound someone who is holding a gun.
These people have seen too many movies. “He should have shot the gun out of her hand!”
She has apparently never even shot a deer. People don’t die quickly like they do in the movies. At least deer don’t.
lol
Beat me by 30 seconds.
Let me get this straight ... a woman appearing to defend her property - presumably the horse - on land on which she owns is shot for her efforts?
There’s more to this story and I don’t think the cop is an angel in it.
Methinks that there is more to this story than is reported here.
Post first, read the article later. :)
Even though she was “evicting” her nephew, tell me...
Who goes to buy a horse at 15-minutes to MIDNIGHT?!?
Of course, it is the policeman's job to shoot to kill; even if it takes 5 shots.
Plenty of witnesses.
From the MSNBC article:
“Earlier in the day, the nephew had been ordered by his aunt to move out of her house by midnight and to take his belongings - including the horse, said state police Lt. Bart Taylor.
Pollitt warned her nephew she would kill the horse if it wasn’t offer her property by midnight, Garrett said. So the nephew contacted Hill, who arrived late Monday to pick up the animal, the sheriff said.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28434239/
Tuco’s Law (abbreviated)... “if you’re gonna shoot, shoot.” I’m not saying it was a justified shoot but once the officer made up his mind to fire, shooting until the target is down is SOP.
From the same article the woman was determined the horse wasn’t going anywhere ...
Sounds to me like horse theft and likely murder ...
SOP? Or SOL?
Good shoot. Glad the horse wasn’t hurt.
I'd be interested to know what his record was like at Newport PD.
Interesting. I wonder if the old broad was pissed that she wasn’t going to get the chance to kill the horse.
They didn't.
The shooting took place at 11:45pm. Remember, Hill went there with the family, looked at the horse, closed the deal and then loaded the horse into the trailer. All this could have started at 9pm or 10pm.
The dead woman wanted to evict her nephew and the horse.
If so, why would she ask for the horse to be unloaded from the trailer?!
It sounds like this woman lost it mentally.
It appears that a man went to a house with his family to buy a horse. He was threatened with a gun held by an angry woman. She wouldn't listen to reason.
If he had not been a cop, this wouldn't have been nearly the issue. He was off duty, based on the fact that his family was with him.
I wonder what everyone would be saying about him had he been an accountant or doctor or a farmer instead of an off duty cop.
VERY poorly written story.
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