Kentucky Deputy Wounded by Friendly Fire Said He was More Afraid of Poorly Trained Officers Than Criminals

After he was shot and mostly paralyzed by a police officer during a Sept. 11, 2018, confrontation that killed a fugitive, a Scott County sheriff’s deputy told Kentucky State Police investigators he had concerns about the training of his fellow officers.

“I was more afraid of getting shot by one of the guys that was inexperienced than getting shot by actual bad guys,” said Scott County Deputy Jaime Morales. Morales was wounded while police were trying to capture fugitive Edward R. Reynolds, who was killed at a rest area off of Interstate 75.

“Some of the guys did not have tactical experience to be, you know, on the situation. You know, as high stress as something like that is,” Morales told investigators.

Morales’ statements were included in hundreds of pages of interviews, investigative findings and forensic reports included in the Kentucky State Police case file of the Sept. 11 incident. The Lexington Herald-Leader obtained the case file through an Open Records Act request.