(Click photos to enlarge)

The driver of a southbound Chevrolet Trailblazer switched lanes and made contact with the rear of a Kentucky SAFE (Safety Assistance for Freeway Emergencies) van.  The Trailblazer then left the southbound side of the roadway, rolled over, and came to final rest in a wooded area alongside the Interstate.  The driver and passenger were transported to Hardin Memorial Hospital for treatment.  Hardin County Animal Control transported the driver's pet dog for treatment.  Central Hardin Fire Department, Elizabethtown Fire Rescue, Hardin County EMS, Kentucky State Police, and Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement worked the scene.  The accident occurred on the afternoon of July 16, 2007.

MVA on I-65 at the 76 mm

Structure Fire on St John Road

Kentucky 86 Fire Department, with mutual aid from Rineyville Fire Department, extinguished a fire on the second floor of a residence located in the 6400 block of St John Road.  The fire occurred just before noon on July 10, 2007.  No injuries were reported.

MVA on Western Kentucky Parkway at the 134 mm

MVA on I-65 at the 96 mm

A southbound Cadillac Seville entered the path of a southbound semi tractor-trailer on the afternoon of June 27, 2007.  The two vehicles collided, and the semi pushed the car into a rock wall alongside the Interstate.  The driver of the Cadillac was transported to Hardin Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.  The driver of the semi was not injured.  Central Hardin Fire Department, Hardin County EMS, and Kentucky State Police, and Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement responded to the scene.

Structure Fire on Poplar Drive

Elizabethtown Fire Department extinguished a shed fire on Poplar Drive.  The call was dispatched just after 5 p.m. on May 30, 2007.  Two adjacent residences suffered minor heat damage.  Elizabethtown Police Department responded for traffic control.  No injuries were reported.

MVA on I-65 at the 88 mm

On the afternoon of May 23, 2007, a northbound Toyota Corolla left the roadway, spun around, and collided with a large tree.  Extrication of the driver took nearly an hour.  The driver was transported to University Hospital in Louisville by StatCare.  Glendale Fire Department, Elizabethtown Fire Rescue, Hardin County EMS, and Kentucky State Police worked the scene.

Fatal MVA on Western Kentucky Parkway at the 132 mm

A traffic collision near the 132 mm on Western Kentucky Parkway became a fatality a few days later when the driver of a Honda passenger car died in the hospital of injuries sustained in the accident.  The Honda was traveling westbound when an eastbound commercial box truck crossed the median, went airborne, and sheared the top off the car.  Central Hardin Fire Department, Elizabethtown Fire Rescue, Hardin County EMS, and Kentucky State Police worked the scene.  The incident occurred just after 1 a.m. on May 19, 2007.

Fatal MVA on Middle Creek Road

Traffic Fatality Leads to Murder Charge
article by Angela Townsend

photos by Steven Townsend

May 18 2007

A Hodgenville man has been charged with murder after fleeing the scene of a traffic collision in which an Elizabethtown resident was killed.

Michael W. Toher, 30, was driving the Ford Explorer at the time of the collision.

“He had just turned off Valley Creek Road onto Middle Creek Road, when he dropped off the right-hand side of the road,” said Sgt. Bryan Sallee of the Hardin County Sheriffs Office. “The vehicle slid down the bank into the ditch, where it flipped and struck a utility pole.”

The incident occurred at 5:45 p.m. on Friday, May 18. Sallee says Toher climbed out of the vehicle, spoke briefly with a witness, and fled the scene on foot – leaving his two passengers to fend for themselves.

One of them, 50-year-old Robert Noel, had died in the collision.

“Toher and one of the passengers were restrained, and neither of them required any medical treatment,” said Sallee. “Noel was unrestrained in the front passenger seat.”

Though Toher fled, the other passenger stayed and spoke with deputies at the scene.

Kentucky State Police responded with a canine unit, but there were too many conflicting scents for the dog to successfully track Toher.

“We saw where he entered the wood line,” said Sallee. “Other people in the area were searching the woods as well, trying to help us, but then the dog couldn’t track the scent very far because there were too many people walking around.”

Toher contacted the Sheriffs Office Saturday morning and stated that he wanted to turn himself in.

“We arranged for a meeting and went out and picked him up,” said Sallee.

Toher was initially charged with murder. On Monday morning, two additional charges were added.

“We followed up with a charge of wanton endangerment in the first degree,” said Sallee. “That’s a reflection of the other passenger, because wanton endangerment means that someone is put in a position of serious physical injury or death as a direct result of your actions.”

Toher was also charged with leaving the scene of an accident and failure to render aid.

“If there is damage over $500 or personal injury, Kentucky law requires you to aid, assist, and do what you can to get emergency personnel to the scene or to help that person until they do get there,” said Sallee. “Since he didn’t stick around to help his buddy out, he is charged with this as well.”

Sallee said alcohol was a contributing factor to the collision.

“There were beer cans around the scene, and the vehicle smelled like alcohol,” he said.

Toher was lodged in the Hardin County Detention Center.

Valley Creek Fire Department, the Hardin County Sheriff's Office, the Hardin County Coroner's Office, and Kentucky State Police worked the scene.  Crews from Nolin RECC replaced the broken utility pole.

DOCJT Inservice Training

Advanced Traffic Stops

Police Officers Practice Advanced Traffic Stops
article and photos by Angela Townsend
May 17, 2007

“There is no such thing as a routine traffic stop,” said Bob French.

Last week, French and Ted Florence, police instructors from the Department of Criminal Justice Training, led 23 law enforcement officers through a 32-hour course designed to heighten their awareness of the potential dangers that could occur during one of the most common responsibilities they carry out. The course was held at Elizabethtown Police Department, and the officers in attendance represented a variety of agencies from Hardin and surrounding counties.

One officer was only two years out of the police academy. Another had worked in law enforcement for more than thirty years. Whatever their level of training and experience, French said this course – Advanced Traffic Stops – would enhance their skills and call their attention to what might be an officer’s worst enemy: complacency.

“Everybody knows how to do a traffic stop,” said French. “But after you’ve done several hundred of them, it’s easy to relax and start seeing them as routine. Like any job, you adopt short-cuts to make your life easier. But that can open the door for someone who has broken the law to take advantage of you.”

Officers must maintain a tactical state of mind, French said, which means staying alert and constantly assessing the circumstances in order to choose the appropriate course of action for each particular situation.

“Police officers are reactive to what is done to them,” French said. “They are not aggressors. They are defenders. They have to be able to react quickly to what they see.”

Vehicle stops are classified as low or high risk, or – the most dangerous – unknown risk.

“With high risk stops, the officer is aware of the danger,” said French. “You know you’ve had an armed robbery, for example, and you’re in pursuit of fleeing suspects.”

French said that with an unknown risk stop, there are indicators that something out of the ordinary is going on beyond a simple traffic violation, but the officer doesn’t know what the driver has done.

“Perhaps you stopped him for speeding. But why was he speeding? Is it because he’s about to be late for work, or is it because he just robbed a store?” said French.

French and Florence discussed physical and verbal cues, along with other indicators that the officer is facing potential trouble.

Various types of traffic stops were also addressed, including pedestrian stops and pulling over vehicles that are not normal passenger vehicles.

“When we have to stop unusual vehicles – 18-wheelers, motorcycles, trucks pulling trailers, boats, or campers, and recreational vehicles – we have to change our tactics to maintain our safety when approaching that vehicle,” French said.

The class included practical exercises in which the officers fired Simunition rounds – similar to paintball rounds – to add as much realism as possible to the training. Florence said safety equipment is used to ensure the officers do not get injured during the practical exercises.

“The scenarios cover most of the situations we taught them through the week,” he said. “They cover everything from assisting a lost motorist to approaching an escaped convict. The officers take turns role playing the criminals. Since we’re using Simunitions, the officers know they could possibly be shot, based on the nature of the scenario.”

Florence said the scenarios are geared to place a level of stress on the officers as they respond to the staged traffic stops.

“These officers have been out of the academy for anywhere from a couple of years to over 20 years,” he said. “Along the way, they’ve gotten complacent. They have their own ways of doing things. We bring this class back periodically to give them a refresher course and a reminder that this is the way you’re supposed to do it.”

“Vehicle stops have always ranked high on the FBI’s list of officers killed and assaulted,” French said. “Across the United States, traffic stops are listed as one of the top three situations in which officers are killed in the line of duty. So we definitely feel that this is an area we need to address.”

French and Florence put the officers to the test on a sunny afternoon last week. Traffic stops were staged on opposite sides of a parking lot. Before each exercise, the instructors discussed with the officer portraying the criminal exactly what his or her move would be. The responding officer had no idea about the situation he or she was walking into. This, French said, is absolute reality.

“The bad guy has the advantage of time,” he said. “When the suspect pulls over, he is already planning what he’s going to do as the officer approaches. The officer has to be alert and observant so that he is ready to react.”

The officers called on their training, perception, and discretion as they encountered suspicious and potentially deadly situations. The infinite variables of each traffic stop mean that no two will ever be handled in quite the same way. The scenarios consistently demonstrated that point.

“On a traffic stop, you have no idea who you’re dealing with,” said French. “You have to use good technique. It’s not just for officer safety. It’s for public safety as well.”

“It’s a good reminder for us to pay closer attention when we pull somebody over. I’ve seen some of the situations we’re practicing here,” said Elizabethtown Police Officer Brad Miller, who has worked in law enforcement for sixteen years. “But when you do something so often, you can start to take it for granted. This training reminds us to get out of our routine way of doing things.”

Elizabethtown Police Officer Chris Morris said that while much of the training was on the order of a refresher course, he found new information in the discussion covering unusual vehicle stops.

“It’s not often that we pull over semis or recreational vehicles. It’s good to know the things we need to be aware of when we do,” he said.

Louisville Metro Police Officer Brooke Benton agreed.

“Learning how to approach semis and other vehicles was something new for me,” she said. “I was never really trained to do that specifically, so that information is really beneficial to me.”

This particular Advanced Traffic Stops class was distinguished from all others by one exceptional detail. It was the final class taught by Bob French.

French started his career as an instructor with the Department of Criminal Justice Training in 1977. Earlier this month he celebrated his thirtieth anniversary and announced his retirement.

“I’ve had a fabulous career. I had always wanted to be a coach, and this is right along a coach’s line – training officers. I wanted to make sure officers were more prepared for their careers than I was when I became a police officer,” said French, who served on the Richmond Police Department for four years before becoming a police instructor with the DOCJT. “And I have truly enjoyed it.”

French taught classes on campus to officers in basic training for twenty years, and then began teaching in-service courses. He has taught at least 20 classes per year at locations all across Kentucky, including Elizabethtown.

“The interaction with the officers in class has been the thing I’ve looked forward to,” he said. “Traveling from Paducah to Pikeville and seeing the different approaches to law enforcement by these officers – it’s been great to work with them.”

“I’ve known him for 25 of the 30 years that he’s been with the DOCJT,” said Florence, who will be taking over some of the classes French has taught. “I’ve enjoyed working with him. He will be very much missed.”

“I thought it very appropriate that I’m on the road for my last class,” said French, “and that it was this particular class, because though I have taught Homeland Security and other courses, most of my classes have dealt with patrol.”

He left his final class of officers with essential parting instructions.

“Pay close attention to every encounter. Constantly assess what you see. Become so intimately acquainted with your equipment that it functions as an extension of yourself. Make sure that you are always prepared and that your equipment is always ready for service. And make time to practice your skills before you are forced to use them, because understanding and knowing a technique is one thing,” he said. “Being able to actually do it – that’s something else.”
 

Gold Standards Roadblock

Elizabethtown Police Department

Citizens Police Academy

Hay Trailer Fire

MVA on Wooldridge Ferry Road

MVA on I-65 near Mile Marker 99

Fatal MVA on I-65 in Sonora

A 61-year-old Flemingsburg woman died in a collision on I-65 near Sonora on Friday afternoon, March 2, 2007.  Kentucky State Police report that the woman was traveling southbound in a Chevy Trailblazer when, near the 81 mile marker, she lost control of her vehicle and overcorrected into the median, where the vehicle began to overturn.  The Trailblazer was struck in the driver's side while upside down by a northbound semi tractor trailer.  The driver of the semi was taken to Hardin Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.  A one-year-old passenger in the Trailblazer was transported to Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville with serious injuries.  The driver of the Trailblazer was pronounced dead at the scene by Hardin County Deputy Corner Ken Spangenberger.

Field Fire on Lincoln Road

Central Hardin Fire Department, with mutual aid from Radcliff and Valley Creek Fire Departments, battled a field fire on Lincoln Road on the evening of February 09, 2007.  The call was dispatched at 6 p.m., and firefighters remained on the scene for several hours.

MVA on Hwy 62/Bardstown Road

Two vehicles collided in front of Lincoln Trail Elementary School on Friday morning, February 9, 2007.  The driver of an eastbound Ford Taurus failed to see a Toyota Matrix that was stopped on Bardstown Road waiting to make a left turn in to the school.  After the initial impact, the Ford Taurus left the roadway and struck a tree.  The driver of the Matrix was not injured.  The driver of the Taurus was transported to University Hospital in Louisville by LifeNet.

PPE/SCBA Training

Firefighters Navigate the Smoke Maze Trailer
 

article and photos by Angela Townsend
February 08, 2007

“The time to find out you’re claustrophobic is now - not when you’re pulling hose into a house fire at 2 a.m.,” said State Fire Rescue Instructor Everett Roberts.

Four college students and a dozen Central Hardin firefighters signed a roster and listened as Roberts outlined the upcoming training drills, which would begin with donning personal protective equipment (PPE) and a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), and conclude with navigating the smoke maze trailer.

“Some of the basic skills we’ll cover include inspection, preventative maintenance, cleaning, and sanitizing of your SCBA,” said Roberts. “You’ll learn what to do in the event of an SCBA failure. You’ll learn how to maneuver through a restrictive space wearing an SCBA, and how to deal with entanglement of the SCBA.”

One of the potential dangers confronting firefighters during a structure fire is the wire that coils through flexible ductwork. When the coating and the insulation of the ductwork burns away, the wire collapses into spirals that dangle from ceiling to floor. The wire is virtually invisible in the thick smoke of a burning structure.

“You’re left with a giant Slinky,” said Roberts. “You can become entangled in that wire before you even know it’s there.”

After rushing to don their PPE through a couple of timed drills and learning some SCBA basics, the trainees practiced crawling – in full gear, including SCBA and mask – into an entanglement. Roberts showed them how to free themselves.

“If you get caught in wire, stop and use a swim stroke with one arm to sweep back, up, and forward to hook the wire with your arm and push it forward away from your SCBA,” he said.

Trainees also learned methods for finding their way out of a structure if they were to become disoriented in a fire.

Once the basics were completed, it was time to enter the smoke maze trailer. Roberts said the smoke maze provides an area in which firefighters can practice search and rescue skills as well as build confidence in using the SCBA.

“The instructor can construct the inside of the trailer however he wants,” said Roberts. “The walls are pieces of plywood in metal frames that can be moved around into different configurations.”

The trailer has two levels. Firefighters and students enter in teams of two, with one carrying a forcible entry tool. The team climbs a ladder at the rear of the trailer to the second level. Once they crawl inside, the ladder is pulled down and the door is closed behind them, leaving them in total darkness. If that were not enough, an hour earlier Roberts had filled the trailer with nontoxic smoke, similar to theatrical smoke, for added verisimilitude.

“Then they have to negotiate the maze,” said Roberts. “They’re following the wall. The whole time they are searching for potential victims inside.”

Navigating the upper level leads the team to a hole in the floor that each firefighter has to drop through to reach the lower level. Still following the wall, they eventually make their way to the exit, which is a side door at the front of the trailer.

But between achieving the lower level and reaching the exit, the firefighters have to practice the skills they learned moments before.

“I placed thick wire, like the wiring you’d find inside a house, in the lower level,” said Roberts. “If they don’t crawl low enough, their SCBA cylinders will get caught in the wire, and then they’ll have to figure out, based on what they’ve just learned, how to get free.”

And since they were searching for potential victims, Roberts placed one inside for them to find.

“We used a doll to represent an infant,” he said.

The instructor stayed within close proximity as each team completed the maze.

“There’s a little observation area in the trailer where I can keep track of the students and make sure they’re okay and not getting themselves in trouble while they’re negotiating the course,” Roberts said.

Roberts, who is Central Hardin Fire Department’s assistant chief, is also a college instructor teaching Introduction to Fire Services at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College during the Spring semester. And while Central Hardin firefighters participated in Thursday evening’s PPE/SCBA class to earn training hours toward certification, the four college students in attendance – Matt Keeling, Casey Hardesty, Nick Schepker, and Ashley McWaters – were there to fulfill college course requirements.

“They have to complete a certain number of lecture hours and a certain number of skill hours,” said Roberts. “This is one of their skill requirements that they have to participate in.”

Schepker, 23, was a recruit for the Bardstown Fire Department from December 2005 to October 2006, and has been a firefighter since then.

“I’m going back to school to get a degree in Fire Sciences,” he said.

Schepker has been through all the training drills previously. Now, he said, it is the academic work that presents the challenge.

“It’s one thing to do the hands-on, but to actually do the classroom work, getting into the nitty-gritty of how things work and how things are really done, and all the rules and regulations of the NFPA, that’s the challenge,” he said. “But it’s a college class and you get credit hours for it, so it’s got to be a challenge.”

“The Fire Rescue Science program at ECTC can be used to get an associate in applied science degree, or the classes can be used as electives for students who are pursuing other majors,” Roberts said.

Roberts said three of the college students who attended the PPE/SCBA training at Central Hardin Fire Department plan careers in the fire service; the fourth student is pursuing a career in Emergency Medical Response.

Schepker said his ultimate goal for his training and his college degree is to become a career firefighter.

“This will bring me one step closer,” he said.

MVA Shepherdsville Road

Central Hardin Fire Department responded to a single-vehicle accident on Shepherdsville Road at 8 p.m. on Saturday, January 27, 2007.  The driver lost control and left the roadway, breaking through a fence and coming to rest in a field.  He was transported by Hardin County EMS to Hardin Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Truck Fire on Miller Road

Valley Creek Fire Department responded to a vehicle fire on Miller Road on Saturday afternoon, January 27, 2007.  The vehicle was fully involved upon arrival and was a total loss.  No injuries were reported.

Central Hardin Fire Department was dispatched to an injury vehicle accident on Bardstown Road at Madden Drive at 6 a.m. on Friday, January 26, 2007.  The driver of a westbound pickup truck failed to see a semi tractor trailer pulling onto Bardstown Road and collided with the rear of the tractor as the semi made the turn.  The driver of the pickup was transported to University Hospital in Louisville by LifeNet.  The driver of the semi was not injured.

Elizabethtown Police Experience Urban Assault Training at Fort Knox 

article and photos by Angela Townsend

January 25, 2007

 

The team advancing down the street is at every possible disadvantage, knowing that enemies lie in wait to ambush their approach, aware that an IED could erupt with each step. Debris against the buildings pushes the team out into the open, away from the relative security of the walls. On one side of the street, a little boy smiles from a second-story window as a gunman appears with his weapon pointed through a window on the first floor. On the other side, simultaneously, a bomb detonates in the bed of a pickup truck.

Welcome to Hogan’s Alley, the second of five stations on a course designed to allow military units, SWAT teams, and rescue squads to customize their training in preparation for challenges from combat to confined space rescue.

“It’s called the Burcham Urban Assault Course,” says Facility Manager Gerry Smith of the five-acre complex located on Fort Knox. “It’s a unique type of range in that we do not have a standard scenario. We give you a capabilities briefing on what we can do and what we have to offer. It’s up to you as to how you want to use it.”

The Elizabethtown Police Department Special Response Team came to the UAC for the benefit of a new training environment.

“We have two properties on which we currently train,” says Asst. Team Leader Virgil Willoughby. “When you run through the same floor plan so many times, it gets very repetitious and doesn’t require you to think a whole lot in regard to what you’re doing.”

The structure of the UAC, paired with the tactical skills of Smith and his staff, ensures that no two walks through Hogan’s Alley – or any of the other four stations – are ever the same.

The course has been used almost daily since construction was completed in April 2006. Some groups schedule to train for one eight-hour shift; others stay as long as a week. The course is available to smaller teams, such as the nine-member SRT, and accommodates larger groups as well.

“If it’s a basic training group, there will be 200 people here,” Smith says. “A lot of the units that are coming here now are basic training units, and this is their first education in urban ops. This is where the troops are learning how to maneuver in urban terrain and how to enter a building.”

The Burcham UAC is comprised of five stations. The first is a series of open rooms in which stationary targets can be placed if so desired, but trainees do not have to contend with furniture or debris.

“Station One is initial entry, where they just learn how to enter a building,” Smith says. “At the first stage you can enter the room, and you can see that nobody is in there. But you need to know the technique on how to get into a room, and you need to know which area of the room is your responsibility.”

Trainees may then move on to Station Four, a two-story building with a maze of small furnished rooms.

“Now you’re tasked not only to come into the room, but to search that room systematically,” Smith says. “Once you have a foothold in that room, then you can proceed and clear the entire building.”

Station Four adapts to offer very basic to very intensive training. While pop-up targets can be hidden around corners and behind doors and furniture, this building also has mouse holes that can be opened in the floors and ceilings to accommodate live opposing forces.

“The military will do paintball wars here,” says Smith.

A 42-inch concrete pipe in the basement of Station Four leads into Station Five, an underground network of concrete tunnels and manholes that mimic a sewer system.

“There are dead ends and ways to get lost down there if you don’t know which way you’re going,” Smith says.

Station Three is a grenadier lane with a building façade.

And Station Two is Hogan’s Alley, a street that dead ends into a building, with structures along both sides.

The targets are self-contained and can be placed anywhere on the course. Smith and his staff control the pop-up targets and the pyrotechnics in all five stations from a lap-top computer. Targets can also be rigged to motion sensors that are similar to the safety sensor on a garage door. When the approaching trainee breaks the beam, the target is activated.

Teams practicing on the UAC can also bring noise to be played over the outdoor sound system – deafening music, or the rage of a riot – to heighten the stress of split-second, shoot-or-don’t-shoot decisions. Not all of the pop-up targets are gunmen. Some are civilians. Some are children. And some of the gunmen are aiming from behind hostages. The noise interferes with the team’s ability to communicate with one another, as well as with the individual’s ability to focus.

“This is not a standard range,” Smith says. “It is completely tunable to the customer, and we can create a scenario to fit whatever level our customer is at. Whether they are just beginning, or are high in special ops, we hope that we can meet their needs and they can get benefit out of training here.”

“Burcham Urban Assault Course has so many different areas in which to train, and they can manipulate their targets to make each situation completely different,” says Willoughby. “It was a new training environment, which challenges us and makes us think a lot more. It was a great experience, and we look forward to going back.”

Van Fire off Hwy 313

An abandoned van caught fire along the shoulder of Patriot Way off Highway 313 on the night of January 22, 2007.  Central Hardin Fire Department arrived to find the vehicle fully involved.  The van had no tags and was believed to be stolen.  The incident is under investigation by the Hardin County Sheriffs Office.

Central Hardin Fire Department, with mutual aid from Lebanon Junction and Boston Fire Departments, battled a fully involved modular home fire on the afternoon of January 14, 2007.  The abandoned house was difficult to access, sitting more than 400 feet off the highway down a dirt lane that was churned to mud by recent rainfall.  The structure was a total loss.  Cause of the fire is under investigation by the Hardin County Sheriffs Office.

Pickup Truck Fire on Miller Road

Central Hardin Fire Department responded to a vehicle fire at the intersection of Youngers Creek and Miller Road at 10:30 p.m. on

January 11, 2007.  They arrived to find a Dodge Ram pickup fully involved.  There were no injuries.

Structure Fire on Hwy 62/Bardstown Road

Central Hardin Fire Department, with mutual aid from Boston Fire Department, battled a structure fire on Bardstown Road on January 7, 2007.  Firefighters responded at 8 a.m. to find the modular home fully involved and remained on the scene for more than four hours  No injuries were reported.  The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Hardin County Sheriffs Office.