A Hopkinsville Police officer is dead and so is the man accused of shooting him. Kentucky State Police say 35-year old James Decoursey was fatally shot by law enforcement in Tennessee around midnight. Decoursey was found on Wilma Rudolph Boulevard in Clarksville, where State Police say he had a “brief encounter with law enforcement and was shot.”
Decoursey had been the subject of an intense manhunt for several hours in connection with the fatal shooting of 38 year old Hopkinsville Police Officer Phillip Meacham. Authorities say the shooting occurred around 5:10 on Paulette Court, off Camilla Drive near Wooldridge Road in Hopkinsville.
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City Police information officer Kyle Spurlin said last night that Decoursey apparently pretended to be a police officer and pulled over Meacham, who was off-duty and in his personal vehicle. Spurlin said Decoursey stole a pickup truck from a Paulette Court home following the shooting and fled the area. Meacham was rushed to Jennie Stuart Medical Center where he died of his injuries.
As officers combed the area for Decoursey, a news conference was held at the Extension Office in Hopkinsville, where authorities said the investigation into Officer Meacham’s murder had been turned over to Kentucky State Police.
Hopkinsville Police Chief Clayton Sumner said Meacham had served the community well for over a decade.
Meacham had joined the Hopkinsville Police Department in May 2017.
Sumner says officers will have help if they need it.
Authorities noted that during his time at the Sheriff’s Department, Meacham and K-9 Eros were received the “Top K-9/Handler” award during a recertification training in 2010.
As for Decoursey, according to information obtained by the News Edge, Decoursey walked away from a halfway house in Louisville on February 5. Court records showed he was serving a 29-year sentence for Trafficking in a Controlled Substance; Possession of a Handgun by a Convicted Felon; and Manufacturing Methamphetamine. When he learned he was being transferred back to prison, police say Decoursey gathered his property at the halfway house, walked out of the facility and did not return. Kentucky State Police issued a warrant the following day, with the warrant active at the time of the shooting. Court records show Decoursey was previously indicted on drug trafficking charges in McCreary and Daviess counties and has been indicted three previous times in Christian County on drug and burglary-related charges, most recently in 2012.
Governor Matt Bevin and Kentucky Justice Secretary John Tilley have sent condolences to both Officer Meacham’s family and the department. Bevin says “there is no greater sacrifice than that of a person willing to lay down their life for another.”
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE POLICE ESCORT FOR OFFICER MEACHAM’S BODY