Untitled - July 27, 2026

00:00:00 Tpr. Corey King: Welcome to the Kentucky State Police podcast. I'm Trooper Corey King. Our guest needs little introduction. Trooper Scottie Pennington. Scottie, welcome my friend.

00:00:14 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Hey, thank you Corey. I'm glad to be here today.

00:00:16 Tpr. Corey King: Thinking about your career and almost thirty years. Wow. That's a lot. We have so many guys and gals that's coming up into the agency, maybe perhaps even other agencies. If you could go back in time and tell your younger self what you know now that might have helped you, then what would it be?

00:00:36 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: You know, I've done this like thirty years and everybody has a flaw.

00:00:42 Tpr. Corey King: Mhm.

00:00:43 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: I think I'm a decent person and I'm a decent speaker. AM I the smartest trooper? Smartest policeman? Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

00:00:53 Tpr. Corey King: No, no.

00:00:53 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: I I've had people in my career tell me you'll never make it. As a police officer. You have trouble spelling or putting stuff together to be a good policeman. Yeah, that's part of it. You got to find ways to get through situations. And I think I've been a survivor in that situation. I would encourage young policemen, don't give up. I did struggle in the academy academically. I struggled here at Dodge. Academically, I struggled at Eastern Kentucky University. Academically, I was the president of my class at Doc. Wow. I was the president of my state Police academy. I got trooper of the year for the host, well for London Post three times and for state police once. And I and I've got the Public Affairs Officer Trooper of the year award. Did I deserve those? I don't know, I don't know.

00:01:47 Tpr. Corey King: Absolutely you did.

00:01:49 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: I just tried to go above and beyond to help my community, but I had people early on said, you'll never make it because you struggle with putting something on paper.

00:01:59 Tpr. Corey King: Argue against that. I tell you what you have, Scottie, and most anyone else can tell if they know you any length of time at all. What made you successful and what makes you who you are and in your community is your heart. You got one of the biggest hearts I know, Scotty. I think everyone else who knows you will say the exact same. So what? You can't spell some big words. That's what Google is for, right?

00:02:23 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: That's what I can remember. Old sergeants. You get your paperwork back and it's bleeding. Bleeding for us means everything's red. But I learned, I mean, I learned from those mistakes. I had good supervisors that taught me how to do things and how to overcome those. And but yeah.

00:02:40 Tpr. Corey King: That's what this profession is about really. It's about having that heart and doing the right thing, standing up for those who maybe perhaps can't, doing the right thing, even when no one else is looking.

00:02:50 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Man, I love. So you say that and a lot of people knows around the state that I do a pre workout program for new cadets and have done it for eighteen years. Amazing. You know, I count the faces because I take a photo at the end of their classes, and I count them, and there's over three hundred and fifty people on our agency that has came through my little how many? Three hundred and fifty.

00:03:13 Tpr. Corey King: Wow. That's like a quarter of this of the sworn.

00:03:17 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: And you know, what's unique is, um, the captain of the academy and about four of his instructors, maybe five, they came through it.

00:03:25 Tpr. Corey King: Wow. That is the level we're talking about. We are going to take a brief pause for this quick message.

00:03:38 Voiceover: In this line of work. Not everyone is called and not everyone answers. It takes discipline, drive. And strength to hold the line when it matters most. From back roads. To city streets. From calm moments to chaos. Kentucky State Police troopers stand ready. Every mile, every moment.

00:04:22 Voiceover: Because protecting the entire Commonwealth takes more than courage. It takes commitment without compromise. This isn't a career. It's a calling.

00:04:32 Tpr. Corey King: Welcome back to the Kentucky State Police Podcast. Scotty Pennington, uh, one of the most popular, if not the at this moment, who has probably produced more troopers today than anyone I know of.

00:04:45 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: I answer a lot of phone calls.

00:04:47 Tpr. Corey King: No doubt about that. You know, thinking of your career, I know you you truncated over to the Public Affairs office that division some. I don't know. What year was that, roughly? You spent some time on the road, is what I'm trying to get at. Right. So if you.

00:05:00 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Spent eighteen years on the road.

00:05:02 Tpr. Corey King: Okay. So during that eighteen years, do you have a fond memory or a crazy memory, an investigation, something that really stands out to you? Maybe an event that happened that you can share with the listeners and say, man, this year this happened and this is what happened that really stands out to you that, you know, you will remember for the rest of your life.

00:05:22 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: I'm glad it took you a long time to ask that question. So, so I could think of something. Um, so, um, many, many, many God, many years ago, Linda Callaghan was an EMS worker in Lexington, Fayette County, and she passed away. A guy had went crazy and shot when they came in the ambulance people. So like a week later, I was working Rockcastle County. I was in Berea heading to work and I get a call of a, an accident. So where it was at, it was like in town. Then you got to go like twelve miles out in the county. He was at a church in a church parking lot. Kind of weird complaint. As I start going the ambulance, they said there's a fight. The ambulance stopped and wouldn't go any further. Um, they said somebody was hurt. They wouldn't go any further because what had happened in Fayette County with Miss Linda Callan. So I keep going. Keep going. Well, now I gotta complain of shots fired inside of a church. So I'm like, oh my goodness, what's going what's going on?

00:06:20 Tpr. Corey King: Yeah.

00:06:21 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: So as I proceed, typical trooper. You're the only one working right? It's you, it's me. And it's like ten in the morning. So I get there and I see a pickup truck and it's got a door open. It's got church music playing inside the pickup like a little Mazda, Toyota or something. I don't I'm kind of intimidated, kind of scared. Kind of like hair on back. What is going on? I mean, I've got shots fired. I got an open door religious music playing. Finally, this gentleman walks out of the of the church. He was my size. He was a good sized fella. I'm trying to talk to him and yelling at him, screaming at him. EMS pulled out behind me and I told them to back up. I just get that stare.

00:07:03 Tpr. Corey King: Yeah. A thousand yard stare.

00:07:05 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Thousand yard stare. Right through you. And I'm like, God, what's. I mean, I was scared, I ain't sure. No, I tell you.

00:07:11 Tpr. Corey King: It's all of us experience the same thing.

00:07:13 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: So I get him to come towards me. I get him to come towards me, and I'm talking to him forever. And I get him to put his hands up and turn around. But when he turns around, he has a gun in his back waist. I'm the only one there, right? And, uh, I got church music playing. I got a door open. I got a complaint of church being shot up, a car wreck, a fight. I just take off and I tackle him from behind. Man, he was strong. I mean, it took me and EMS like three of them that was there. And to get him handcuffed.

00:07:47 Tpr. Corey King: You know, for those folks that don't know, Scotty, you're not a small fella. Uh, you're not a small fella at all. And so for you for that, for him to be a handful. That's telling me right now that indeed this was a big fella.

00:07:59 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: He he was a large man.

00:08:01 Tpr. Corey King: Okay.

00:08:02 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: So I get him handcuffed and get him in the car. He's talking kind of out of his head. He's drinking beer. He's got a beer and a marijuana joint. Oh, burning in the ashtray. So I walk in the church and I look around and I end up doing an investigation. He shot that church thirteen times.

00:08:19 Tpr. Corey King: Oh.

00:08:20 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Just don't know why.

00:08:21 Tpr. Corey King: Never. Never said what?

00:08:23 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Nope. I count thirteen bullets, holes and things and arrest him. Well, no. It's a long way to the jail. Long way. And I get talking to him. He's still out of his mind. I go back the next day and talk to him to try to see what? Why? Because he wasn't from that area. MM. He wasn't.

00:08:43 Tpr. Corey King: So strange.

00:08:44 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Like this is rural Rockcastle, a church. He he had no, he had no connections to this place, so I talked to him. He's kind of level headed, you know. He tells me, he said, listen, I hurt myself working. I was getting medication. My insurance wouldn't pay for the medication no more. And he said I was addicted and I couldn't get it. I started abusing other medications and got hooked on methamphetamines.

00:09:09 Tpr. Corey King: Oh, wow.

00:09:11 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: And then his wife was leaving him and just a lot of stuff going on. I said, why'd you pick that church? He said, I don't even know where I was at.

00:09:19 Tpr. Corey King: Just strung out, just driving.

00:09:21 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: And he had religious music playing. And so he got out and he he shot the church up. So I got to thinking about it. I talked to the county attorney and I said, let's get this guy and, you know, Charter Ridge or Eastern State. Let's get him. Let's get him some help. He went, uh, we had court and the judge ordered him to, to stay away from that, uh, that church had all these stipulations and all this stuff. And the pastor of that church had spoke to me before court and he said, Scotty, this guy has has had a lot of issues, a lot of problems. When he gets better, we want him to come to our church. We want him to come there.

00:10:01 Tpr. Corey King: Wow.

00:10:02 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: So I testified when the judge ordered him to stay away, way away and all this, I looked at the judge and I said, Your Honor, I said, I've talked to the pastor and some people in the church. I said, can we tweak that a little bit? I said, they want him. They want him to come to church.

00:10:18 Tpr. Corey King: Amazing.

00:10:19 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: They want him to come there. And, you know, Corey, I talked to this gentleman several times. He'd call post and I'd call him, and for years he would mail me a Christmas card and thank me for not taking his life that day.

00:10:33 Tpr. Corey King: Wow. That's powerful.

00:10:35 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Man. There's several stories like that with people, but that, that that meant a lot to me as a young trooper. Maybe that day things went different, right? Maybe my career would have been different if I would have pulled my weapon and had to intervene that way, you know, God was in control of that situation, right?

00:10:52 Tpr. Corey King: You honestly have to go with what your gut and experience is telling you in that moment and just pray for the best outcomes. And I don't think many people realize, especially with our agency, it's us. It's just you. Everything is dependent on what you do, because we don't have the luxury of having three other police officers in behind us. And you have to rely on that experience and what it's telling you, I think that is you can have a variety of outcomes, but that's what you decide at that moment that was going to work and it did. And look how close it brought this gentleman to you, but also maybe, perhaps back to his faith and turned his life around, essentially. Yeah. There is that human element behind all of these crimes and everything we talk about and recognizing that's important to us to carry out our jobs. Because let's face it, we could go out here and knock down all these doors. And when the smoke clears and arrest all the people that have done bad things are still that human side to everything. And it's important for us and law enforcement to recognize that. And kudos to you for doing that. Says a lot about the church, too. We are going to take a brief pause for this quick message.

00:12:11 Voiceover: Drive safe Kentucky. Buckle up and put the phone down.

00:12:17 Tpr. Corey King: Welcome back to the Kentucky State Police Podcast.

00:12:22 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: You know, law enforcement, we have to do something in a split moment. I've made some mistakes in my career. But, you know, one of the biggest mistakes that I could tell people is doing this job. And this is if you're a city policeman or just a human being, you know, early in your career, you try to set an example of who you are. Hard work, dedication, everything to this uniform. But sometimes you forget about some people. This job, we miss out on a lot of stuff. Mhm. You know, you miss out on Christmas. You miss out on Thanksgiving, you miss out on ball games. Don't forget about your family.

00:12:59 Tpr. Corey King: Yeah.

00:13:00 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Don't forget about your wife and your kids who you're out looking for another DUI or another drug dealer because you want you love that. You want to make your community safer.

00:13:08 Tpr. Corey King: Right. And this job can consume you. And it's easy to do.

00:13:12 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Early on, it did. Yeah. Early on. And it still consumes me. You know, my wife's like state police, state police, state police. But she loves it. She lets me do that workout program. She loves the agency, you know, like I do. And she get aggravated. Sure. Absolutely. She wants she wants her time, you know, give me a little bit and give our kids. And, you know, that's something I used to play a lot of men's softball, police, softball, state police went all over the United States playing. You know, now that I've got three kids, you know, I adopted three children. Corey, one of them just got their driver's license the other day.

00:13:46 Tpr. Corey King: Wow.

00:13:47 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: And the other one just got his permit, and the other one is a fifth grader. Two boys, one girl.

00:13:52 Tpr. Corey King: Wow.

00:13:52 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: You know, I coached my daughter in softball for ten, twelve years. Travel ball, middle school ball, basketball, you name it. And then now my son, he plays football, he wrestles, he does track. He's a great athlete. I coached him, I still coach him. I coach high school football. Now. I was a middle school coach for four or five years, and I got a little one. I got a little fifth grader come up. He plays middle school basketball. He he plays travel ball. He's a trash talker. Corey. He's not very good, but he's a, he's a trash talker. But, uh, if I could give any, if I can give any advice to young trooper, a young policeman, don't forget about your family at home. We talk about mistakes. I think that's one mistake that if I could fix a little bit, I wouldn't look for that activity. I wouldn't work that hour of overtime. I'd go home.

00:14:40 Tpr. Corey King: Yeah.

00:14:40 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: And spend time with them because they're the ones worrying about you at home.

00:14:43 Tpr. Corey King: Right.

00:14:43 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: And you're they want they're the ones can't fall asleep at night waiting to see that door open. Just to hear you.

00:14:50 Tpr. Corey King: Yeah.

00:14:51 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: And they might fuss at you.

00:14:52 Tpr. Corey King: Right? You know, there's some things that you can't help sometimes when you get that call, as soon as you get off shift and all of a sudden you have that that wreck with injuries or a fatal wreck, maybe a shots fired, and you're going to respond with your body, no doubt. But, you know, that's also with every profession. I think it's something as a nation that we all can get behind and say, hey, maybe more time with the things that matter most to you. You're right, one hundred percent correct. With that, I believe kind of a funny bit. You was talking about your your child is your older son. Is that or. Yes. Just got the driver's license.

00:15:23 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Well, my daughter.

00:15:24 Tpr. Corey King: Okay, your.

00:15:25 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Daughter got the permit.

00:15:26 Tpr. Corey King: Okay. Oh, say so as a father and a trooper. Now, I know the answer to this, but what is one of the biggest concerns you have? Uh, wearing the hat of both dual roles, right? You got your trooper hat on, but you also got your father hat on. What would be what? What bothers you about that? I think I know the answer, but I'll let you explain that.

00:15:45 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Corey. This podcast probably be the longest one in the history, the first one and the longest. You know, the fear. Yeah. You know, the fear of you get that phone call. It's your child.

00:15:56 Tpr. Corey King: Yep. Were you a collision reconstructionist like I was?

00:15:59 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: I was not, but I worked a lot of them. I worked Rockcastle County because there's a lot of wrecks in that county.

00:16:04 Tpr. Corey King: Scares me to death.

00:16:05 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: And just that fear of that phone call. It's like being a, I guess my wife being at home waiting on me to come through the front door.

00:16:12 Tpr. Corey King: That's exactly what I was getting at by asking you that question. Now you see how families, your children, your wife has that on edge. When that phone rings, you're thinking, oh Lord, my child's out driving right now. You have that sinking feeling. Makes me wonder. Maybe they're feeling the same. Yeah.

00:16:29 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: Let me tell you about a mistake. You know, I, I talk, you talk about mistakes. So about a couple of weeks ago, my daughter has we have her a car, but she's going to go practice in Somerset. Going to take care of test over there. But we have a basketball game that morning. So it's raining. It's a little foggy. I said, I'll drive, and then when we get a break, we'll go over there and test drive. So big bad trooper knows everything, knows the rules. Don't break the rules. Put your seatbelt on. I'm backing out of the driveway. So I live in a cul de sac. Okay, there's piles of snow because the snow and the ice.

00:17:02 Tpr. Corey King: Can't go anywhere. So that's where it stays. Yeah.

00:17:05 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: So my cruiser we have now that I have everybody getting permits and driver's license and everybody's getting more vehicles, I don't have nowhere to put them. So I had to put my cruiser in the cul de sac, but the snow made it have to go eight more feet, ten more feet in, you know. So I'm backing up. My daughter has a backup camera. I drop a honey bun in the floor.

00:17:26 Tpr. Corey King: Now, this is not a figure of speech or anything. This is literally a honey bun.

00:17:30 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: I drop a honey bun. Okay, we didn't have time to stop and eat, so everybody grabbed a snack. We had plate eight at six thirty in the morning. So I'm reaching to grab that honey bun that fell on the floorboard. Bam! I backed my daughter's car into my cruiser. Uh.

00:17:49 Tpr. Corey King: Well, listen, you know I've been there, Scottie. You know, I backed through a garage door before I was getting ready to go live on a TV show about road conditions, and it was like, four, four, thirty in the morning or something like that. And I run to the vehicle because I was late, get my camera on the the dashboard ready, lighting getting ready, just failed to open the garage door and went through it so it can happen. Thankfully, mine was not a honey bun that did it.

00:18:12 Tpr. Scottie Pennington: So I immediately got a call from my wife who was in bed. Did you hit Kaitlyn's car? And I was like, uh, it's pouring rain. I get out, there's no damage to the cruiser, but I did scratch. I did put a little dent in her car. I was ready for her to really get into me. My daughter. We got out and looked at it and got back in. I said, Kaitlyn, I'm so sorry. She said, it's okay dad. And I started crying because I hurt my daughter's car. Yeah, her first car over a honey bun. Over a honey bun. It brought tears to my eyes because my daughter was like, it's okay. I would have been different. I'd have probably chewed her out. I would have fussed at her, but she said, it's okay, dad.

00:18:51 Tpr. Corey King: How forgiving. I'm staring to my far left at John Rowland, who's behind all the technology for us and does such a great job. And John, I think we're probably going to get him a case of honey buns this year for In service. Would you agree with that? Yeah. Okay. Well, Trooper Scottie, thank you for your service and sharing your story with us today. Behind every badge is a human being with a family, a purpose, and a commitment to protect others. We're grateful for your work that you do and taking the time to let us in. This is exactly what our podcast is about. To everyone listening, thank you for joining us. Stay safe. Take care of each other and we'll see you next time. We are just getting started. So long folks.