Randy Lacy, 55, Clay City, KY Police Chief shot with own gun from the back seat of his cruiser
25th Century Quaker
Courthouse Closes Early To Honor Chief
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Suspect Jamie Barnett
Clay City, KY -- The Powell County Courthouse closed early Friday in
honor of Clay City Police Chief Randy Lacy, just hours after his
accused killer made his first court appearance.
Lacy, 55, died Wednesday morning of a single gunshot wound to the
head. The Powell County coroner said Thursday said the bullet came
from one of Lacy's guns. The first visitation for Lacy is set to begin
Friday afternoon.
Jamie Barnett, 37, is charged with murder in Lacy's death, said Lt.
Phil Crumpton of the Kentucky State Police. Lacy was arresting Barnett
Wednesday for driving under the influence when the shooting took
place, Crumpton said.
The bullet was fired from the back seat of Lacy's cruiser and passed
through a wire and Plexiglas barrier separating the back seat from the
front, Wells said. It hit Lacy in the back of the head, Wells said.
The car traveled another 350 feet before colliding with a stop sign
and rolling into a ditch.
Investigators were trying to determine Thursday how suspect Jamie
Barnett allegedly got one of the two guns Lacy usually carried.
"That's kind of a mystery to us," Wells said.
Barnett is scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning.
Word of Lacy's death passed quickly through the community of 1,300
residents 40 miles east of Lexington. Lacy was remembered as a
professional who was tough on the drug problem but compassionate to
the criminals, many of whom he helped put behind bars.
"He was not only a cop, he was just a really good Christian man who
was trying to get the community united against the drug problem," said
Dovie Knox, who works at Powell Prescription Center.
"Everybody's shocked by it," said Brenda Patrick, who had known Lacy
for more than 30 years. "The town sort of went wild today, I think.
It's like a blanket of sorrow spread over the neighborhood."
On Thursday, there were decorative flowers, balloons, an American flag
and a plastic angel placed at the scene of the shooting. A ribbon on a
nearby street sign said "In Memory Big Randy."
Lacy, who had worked 22 years in law enforcement and spent the last
three as police chief, was pronounced dead Wednesday morning at the
scene by Powell County Coroner Carl Wells.
Crumpton said when Lacy arrested Barnett, he handcuffed Barnett's
hands in front of his body instead of behind his back.
In most circumstances, officers cuff in the back to restrict mobility,
but Greg Adams, a Powell County sheriff's deputy, said Lacy often
cuffed people he knew in the front. Barnett had a long criminal
history according to court records.
"Randy was a good officer." Adams said. "He did trust people a little
too much."
Adams, who was one of several officers responding to the scene of the
shooting, also said Lacy kept an extra gun in his cruiser between the
front seat and the console. Crumpton would not confirm whether there
was an extra gun in the car.
Lacy was the only officer for the small city, which was looking to
fill two vacancies.
Powell County Judge-Executive Darren Farmer said the suspect shot Lacy
from the back seat of the chief's cruiser, but authorities at a news
conference did not confirm that.
Lacy, 55, had served as police chief of Clay City since 2004, but
began serving in law enforcement in 1985.
Garland Lacy, the police chief's brother, said he learned about the
shooting while listening to a police scanner. He said his brother was
dead by the time he reached the scene.
"He was respected by all the police officers, and he was even loved by
the people he was putting in jail," said Garland Lacy, a court bailiff
and chaplain for the sheriff's department.
He said he recently bought a fishing boat with his brother, and had
discussed with him that he should consider retiring from full-time
police work so he could have more leisure time.
Garland Lacy said he has conducted several baptism ceremonies for
prisoners at the jail, and that his brother played guitar during those
ceremonies. Adams said Lacy was so friendly to suspects, that he would
sometimes stop and buy them snacks or cigarettes before taking them to
jail.
Barnett has a long criminal history, according to records from the
Powell County Circuit Court Clerk's office.
He was charged with assaulting a police officer in 1994, according to
court records. In April, he was charged with driving under the
influence, leaving the scene of an accident and disorderly conduct,
court records said. The April 9 drunken driving arrest was his second
DUI offense, according to the records.
Cread Holland, president of a local chapter of a center that refers
people who abuse drugs or alcohol, said the problem in eastern
Kentucky is particularly bad in Clay City. He said more than 70
percent of 9- and 10-year-olds answered in a survey that they live in
a house where drugs and alcohol are common.
"It is probably as bad here as anywhere," Holland said.
The Clay City Community Center, home of the mayor's office, was closed
following the shooting. Flowers were placed on the door of the
community center and at the police station across the street.
It was the second fatal shooting involving law enforcement officers in
Powell County, in the rural foothills of Appalachia.
Sheriff Steve Bennett and deputy Arthur Briscoe were killed while
trying to arrest Ralph Baze in 1992. Baze was convicted of the
killings and is currently on Kentucky's death row.
Gov. Ernie Fletcher directed that flags at all state office buildings
remain at half-staff in honor of Lacy until sunset on the day of his
funeral.
Lacy's funeral has been set for Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Powell County
High School gymnasium.
Associated Press Wire Services Contributed To This Story.
FEATURED VIDEOS
Man Accused Of Killing Police Chief Makes Court Appearance
Man Accused Of Killing Police Chief Talks To LEX 18
Candlelight Vigil Held For Randy Lacy
Memorial Service Held For Fallen Police Chief
Community Mourns Fallen Police Chief
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POWELL COUNTY
Randy Lacy's Obituary
Wells Funeral Home
P.O. Box 33
Stanton, KY 40380
Clay City - Garry Randy Lacy, 55, 151 10th St., husband of Ruth
Garrett Lacy, died Wednesday, June 13th in the line of duty. He was
born October 28, 1951 in Winchester, to the late Granville Alexander
and Zula Belle Tipton Lacy. He was Clay City Police Chief, a member of
Clay City First Church of God, member of Fraternal Order of Police,
and a member of Powell County Ministerial Association Anti-Drug Task
Force. Surviors include: Wife of 27 years, Ruth Lacy, Clay City; Sons,
Arthur Randle Lacy, Stanton, Brian Scott Lacy, Winchester, and Kevin
Dewayn Lacy, Clay City. Brothers Chester and wife, Bonnie Lacy,
Stanton, Garland and wife, Sue Lacy, Clay City, and Ted and wife,
Teresa Lacy; Grandchildren, Gary, Ryan and Taylor Lacy. Services
Sunday, June 17, 2007 2:00PM Powell County High School Gymnasium,
Stanton by Rev. Garland Lacy. Visitation today and Saturday 5-9pm
Wells Funeral Home, Stanton. Burial in West Bend Cemetary. Active
Pallbearers serving: Greg Adams, Danny Rogers, Dallas Clark, Jay
Perkins, Kevin Neal, Rog Matthews, Denny Frazier, Danny Allen, and
Danny Thomas. Honorary Pallbearers serving: Brittany Adams, Jonathan
Adams, Members of Kentucky State Police, Stanton Police Dept., Powell
County Sheriff's Dept., Kentucky Motor Vehicle Enforcement, Dispatch,
Jail, Fire, Ambulance, Coroner's Office, and Forestry Service and
Members of Clay City First Church of God.
--
seek electricity
25th Century Quaker
killing him
By: JEFFREY McMURRAY - Associated Press
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/06/16/backpage/6_15_0716_03_40.txt
MOUNT STERLING, Ky. -- A man accused of killing a small-town police
chief claims he has no memory of shooting the lawman he called a friend.
Jamie Barnett, 37, said in a jailhouse interview Thursday night with
The Associated Press that he was too high on drugs to recall any of
the events that led up to Wednesday's killing.
"I feel like I'm dying inside," he said. "I remember going to a liquor
store and eating a handful of Xanax and ending up here." Xanax is an
anti-anxiety medication.
Barnett was to be arraigned Friday on a murder charge.
Investigators were still trying to determine how Barnett was able to
grab Police Chief Randy Lacy's gun and shoot him in the back of the
head. Barnett was handcuffed behind a wire and hard plastic barrier in
the back seat of a squad car.
"That's kind of a mystery to us," said Powell County Coroner Carl
Wells, who conducted an autopsy Thursday.
Barnett, who has scraggly brown hair and a beard and mustache, had
tears streaming down his face during most of the interview. He was
particularly distraught while discussing his newborn daughter.
"I just want to tell her I love her," he said.
Lacy was a family friend who had been trying to help him get off
drugs, Barnett said. Sometimes at Christmas, the chief even played
Santa for Barnett's children.
"I'd lay down there and let them stick a needle in my arm if it would
bring him back," he said.
Barnett said Lacy, who had arrested him numerous times, would always
cuff him in the front "because he was my friend" and sometimes didn't
handcuff him.
Kentucky State Police acknowledged that Lacy handcuffed Barnett in the
front rather than behind his back -- a frequent practice for suspects
he knew.
Greg Adams, a Powell County sheriff's deputy, said Lacy often kept a
gun between the seat and console in the front of the squad car. He
speculated that the extra gun could have slipped to the back, but
state police investigators wouldn't comment on that theory.
Lacy, 55, had served 22 years in law enforcement and was the only
active member of the police force in Clay City, a rural town of 1,300
people about 40 miles east of Lexington.
Although the final results of the autopsy weren't available, Wells
said Lacy was shot at point-blank range in the back of the head. He
was behind the wheel of his cruiser when he was shot, and the car
swerved 350 feet before colliding with a stop sign and rolling into a
ditch, Wells said.
The bullet passed through the back seat barrier in front of Barnett,
whom Lacy had picked up minutes earlier on a charge of driving under
the influence.
Barnett has an arrest record dating back to 1993, including multiple
drug possession charges. He said he has been high on a variety of
drugs, including cocaine, for at least six months and never intended
to harm anyone.
"It wouldn't even cross my mind, no matter how messed up I got," he said.
Barnett's most recent arrest before the shooting occurred April 9,
when he was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, driving
with a suspended or revoked license, driving without insurance, DUI
and disorderly conduct.
A citation for the incident reports that he threatened a state trooper
by saying, "Let me out of these handcuffs, I'll hurt you."
.
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TimeTraveller
when he was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, driving
with a suspended or revoked license, driving without insurance, DUI
and disorderly conduct.
And this guy was roaming free while that vicious criminal Paris Hilton
is languishing in jail!!! How rich is he, I wonder?