Five Republican House members from south-central Kentucky said in a joint statement that they are mourning the death of Kentucky State Police Trooper Hayden Phillips, who was fatally shot Monday while conducting a traffic stop on Interstate 65 in Warren County.
Representatives Steve Riley, Robert Duvall, Kevin Jackson, Shawn McPherson, and Michael Meredith released the statement honoring Phillips’s service and sacrifice. Phillips, a 30-year-old father of three, was assigned to Kentucky State Police Post 3 in Bowling Green and had served as a trooper for three years.
“There is no greater responsibility than putting on the badge and answering the call to serve, and there is no greater sacrifice than giving one’s life in the line of duty,” the lawmakers said in their statement. “Trooper Phillips made the ultimate sacrifice, and his courage and selflessness will not be forgotten.”
Phillips conducted a traffic stop on Interstate 65 North near Smiths Grove at about 2 p.m. Monday afternoon and was fatally shot by an occupant of the vehicle during the stop. The suspect, 51-year-old Emonnie Branch of Portland, Tennessee, was apprehended in Louisville and is charged with murder of a first responder.
Kentucky State Police Commissioner Phillip Burnett Jr. said Phillips graduated from Cadet Class 103 and was known to fellow troopers as Unit 369. Other state officials have also expressed their condolences to Phillips’s family.
The House members said their thoughts and prayers are with Phillips’s family, loved ones, and fellow troopers. “We are grateful for his service to Kentucky, and we will honor his memory by remembering the life he gave in service to others,” the statement said.
Sources
- Kentucky House Majority Caucus statement on Trooper Hayden Phillips
- Fox News: Kentucky Trooper Hayden Phillips fatally shot on I-65
- WSMV: Trooper Hayden Phillips death details
This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) from a press release emailed to [email protected] by Kentucky House Majority Caucus, enriched with 2 web searches.
