Family of man shot by police speaks out, man accused of attempted murder of a police officer
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Kentucky State Police are investigating a Sunday morning police-involved shooting in Bowling Green.
Jospeh D. Compton, 37, of Rockfield, was shot in the shoulder and was later charged with attempted murder of a police officer, according to his arrest citation.
A Bowling Green Police Department officer responded Sunday morning to the 500 block of West 10th Avenue on a theft/trespassing complaint.
Upon arrival, officers made contact with two people suspected in the theft.
Compton entered the driver’s side of a silver Ford passenger car. An officer demanded the car stop and instead the car accelerated in reverse and struck a tree before changing directions and barreling down on BGPD officers, according to Compton’s arrest citation.
One of the officers’ body cam footage shows the car coming directly at the officer, according to the citation. An officer fired his weapon at the vehicle.
At about 12:30 p.m. Compton sought treatment for his wound at TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital.
The person who drove Compton to the hospital told Kentucky State Police that Compton told him he had been shot by police because he tried to run over a police officer, according to his citation.
Della Cuzick is Compton’s girlfriend.
She wishes her boyfriend could receive drug treatment instead of jail time.
“I do not understand. He had no weapon. If he wanted to run over that cop, that cop would have been ran over and to try to shoot him in the head is ********. He has family. He has kids. He’s an awesome ******* guy,” said Cuzick.
Tamera May, Cuzick’s mother said, “what’s wrong in this world today is that nobody cares and nobody cares if anybody out there needs help. Everybody wants to look over them and throw them in jail or rehab when they actually need somebody to love and care for them.”
BGPD requested Kentucky State Police to investigate the shooting. That is standard for police-involved shootings.
The names of the BGPD officers involved in the shooting have not yet been released.
“There is times that this is a dangerous job and that is just part of it. However, our mindset is always trying to protect the individuals, the citizens of Bowling Green, Warren County and the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Priddy.
Compton is also charged with first-degree wanton endangerment of a police officer.
The officer who pulled the trigger is on paid administrative leave.
“That is a normal thing to happen at most agencies when something like this happens, when there’s an officer-involved shooting that paid administrative leave is a normal thing that occurs and most agencies have a policy on that,” said Priddy.
The incident is still under investigation.
“We want to make sure we are doing a thorough investigation. They are logging evidence. It’s early on and we still have a ways to go but we’re going to continue,” said Priddy.
