By Haley May and Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
The Olive Hill City Council held their final monthly meeting of the year on Tuesday, December 19. The meeting opened with Lawton resident Marlene Carmack informing council how her property was damaged during a high speed chase last month. Carmack was asking the city to help reimburse her for damages, which she said were caused when an officer with the Olive Hill Police Department pursued a suspect to the end of a dead end road, and into her yard. Once in the yard, she said, the police officer sank into the mud and struck the edge of her newly installed septic tank. Because of this, and the costs involved with replacing the tank and repairing the damage, Carmack said she cannot use the water in her home. She also claimed that because of the mud associated with the chase and digging up the septic tank again that her vehicle has slid and sustained damage.
The city let her know that they were under the impression she had retained legal representation, therefore they could not comment on any pending litigation outside of executive session. Carmack told the Times that she spoke with the mayor and council in executive session and told them that while she had not yet retained council, it was not off the table. But, she said, she told them she wished to resolve the situation without involving the courts if possible.
Olive Hill Chief of Police Bruce Palmer confirmed that Carmack had been in contact with him, and that he gave her information that her insurance agency could use to contact the city’s insurance agency and begin a claim; however, he could not comment any further while the issue was still in question.
Deputies with the Carter County Sheriff’s Office and the Kentucky State Police were also involved in the pursuit, according to various sources. But Carmack – who was not home at the time but whose neighbors told her they observed the pursuit – said it was the officer with the Olive Hill department who caused the damage. She said that witnesses told her they watched the car being removed by a local wrecker service. She said she also heard officers talking about the incident at a local restaurant, and though they were teasing the officer involved for his accident, it made her feel like she was the butt of a joke.
In other action, council accepted a report on the energy savings project from Trane and heard from the water management programmer on new backup water pumps and station upgrades. The water management programmer also mentioned that they were close to getting new assistance programs into place with additional resources for the community and urged council members with questions to reach out to him at any time.
Police chief Palmer also spoke to council about a recent raid executed by the drug task force. During the course of that raid, he said, several items and drugs were seized. Among those items were 76 grams of fentanyl, which is enough to cause deadly harm to 38,000 people, at a very low “street value” cost. Palmer asked council if they would be able to or interested in assisting the task force in expanding to be able to work more diligently in continuing to remove these items from our streets. Council responded that it was a great proposal, and they would be more than happy to assist if funds were available. They also advised that they would discuss the possibility of assistance and would stay in contact regarding the proposal.
Contact the writer at news@cartercountytimes.com
The City of Olive Hill should be held responsible and accountable for all damages via the Olive Hill Police Department’s pursuit, it’s own cruiser damaging private property while on pursuit! I hope this gets fixed ASAP and that the property owner doesn’t have to suffer more than they have already and pay for all the damages themselves, that’s not right at all! Come on, do the right thing Olive Hill!
Tim,
Thankyou, for your words of concern on this matter. Still at this late date we had no response from Olive Hill trying to help. They believe it’s not the fault of the police and sherriff involved. This has opened my eyes to alot of unfortunate issues pertaining to this small town. I am still waiting and dealing with the issues from the damages.