A Tennessee man with a substantial criminal record was ordered held without bail Tuesday in connection with the fatal shooting of a Kentucky State Police trooper, authorities said.
Emonnie Dion Branch was arrested in Louisville late Monday and charged in the death of Trooper Hayden Phillips. The officer was shot after stopping a vehicle on Interstate 65 in Warren County, Kentucky State Police Commissioner Col. Phillip Burnett Jr. said at a news conference.
Branch, 51, of Portland, Tennessee, allegedly drove away from the scene. Police later took him into custody in Jefferson County, roughly 95 miles (150 kilometers) from where Phillips was shot.
Authorities booked Branch into the Warren County Detention Center in Bowling Green early Tuesday.
He faces a murder charge involving a first responder, an offense that could bring either a death sentence or life in prison if he is convicted. During his arraignment Tuesday, a judge ordered Branch held without bail.
A preliminary hearing focused on the extradition process was set for Friday.
Prosecutors described Branch as a repeat offender. He is also wanted under an August arrest warrant from Sumner County, Tennessee, for allegedly violating probation. Branch received probation last year after being convicted of fraud and impersonation, though officials have not disclosed what prompted the alleged violation.
Wearing an orange jail uniform and seated in a wheelchair, Branch appeared in a courtroom filled with Phillips’ relatives and numerous law enforcement officers.
An appointed public defender represented Branch at the arraignment. A woman who answered the phone at the public defender’s office in Frankfort said the office would not comment on the case.
Trooper Katan Parker, a Kentucky State Police spokesperson in Bowling Green, said Tuesday that investigators still do not know why Phillips stopped Branch. Kyle Bumgarner, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, called it a “routine traffic stop” during Monday’s news conference and said emergency responders arrived within minutes of the shooting.
“It is the most heinous crime that can be committed in our commonwealth,” Bumgarner said. “One of our own was gunned down and murdered on the side of the road.”
Phillips, who would have celebrated his 29th birthday Wednesday, had served with the state police for three years. Based in Bowling Green, he was also a husband and father of three.
On Tuesday, dozens of law enforcement vehicles escorted Phillips’ body from the Louisville medical examiner’s office, where an autopsy had been conducted, to a funeral home in his hometown of Glasgow. Funeral plans had not yet been announced.
Residents and first responders in Russell County gathered Monday night for a vigil in Russell Springs. Phillips had previously served the community as a firefighter, emergency medical technician and police officer.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear remembered Phillips in a statement as “a hero who dedicated himself to protecting our commonwealth.”
