K9 Rocky successfully makes first alert on a discarded firearm

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Over the weekend, two people were arrested following a pursuit where the driver shot at police. 

The high speed pursuit started in Tennessee, crossed over into Kentucky, and ended in Warren County off Plano Road in a soybean field.

K-9 Rocky and his handler, Deputy Dean Clark, responded to the location when police could not locate the firearm. 

This was the team’s very first real life weapons search, and Rocky alerted them correctly. 

“We get here, of course, when I saw how thick and dense this is, it’s the middle of the night. It’s pitch black. I was a little worried that he was going to be able to just walk through this, much less find anything. At first, he is just trying to get through this thick brush and we get about 50 yards out and suddenly his nose hits the ground and he starts really sniffing and, which is typically means he’s in odor. And we kind of walked around for a minute and he kind of rounded a corner and boom, he sat. I thought, wow, okay. And so I’m shining a light and we’re digging. And sure enough, there was the gun. I could not have been more proud of him,” said Clark.

Edward Brown, the man who allegedly tossed the 9 millimeter gun, had earlier used that weapon to fire at Portland Officer Matt Stephens. 

Brown is lodged in the Warren County Regional Jail and is charged with the attempted murder of a police officer, fleeing and evading police both in a vehicle and on foot, unlawful imprisonment and had active warrants out for his arrest.

The passenger and owner of the vehicle, Anastasia Payton, was also arrested for fleeing police on foot and possession of marijuana and was found to be a missing person in a national database. 

“For him to actually be able to do it, our first call out, our first find, I was just so excited. And he kind of looked at me for a minute like, alright Dad, aren’t you going to pay me? I got so excited, I forgot to pay him. So I paid him. And then we got out here and he was able to get some treats and everybody loved on him and it was a great night,” said Clark.