Labor Day weekend busy for SPD, sheriff’s office

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Ernest Gilliland Jr.
Margaret Woodall

September 8, 2010

Death while driving, missing persons cases top activity

by Tricia Neal Commonwealth Journal The Commonwealth Journal Wed Sep 08, 2010, 08:00 AM EDT

Somerset —

Local law enforcement experienced a busy Labor Day weekend, but they agree that, overall, the holiday was a safe one.

Officers say seven injury motor vehicle accidents, and a total of 19 accidents in all, occurred in Pulaski County over the four-day span — not an unusually high number for that period of time.

Kentucky State Police are reporting that one Pulaski County crash resulted in a fatality — however Pulaski County Sheriff Todd Wood says the crash is not what killed the man involved.

Wood said an elderly man suffered an apparent heart attack while he was driving. The man, whose name was unavailable at press time, managed to pull to the side of the road, but his vehicle sustained minor damage when he bumped into a guardrail. Wood did not say where the incident took place.

Wood said another wreck in northern Pulaski County Sunday evening occurred because the driver of the vehicle suffered a seizure.

One other injury collision appears to have been the fault of an intoxicated driver. (See related story.)

Sheriff’s deputies responded to 367 calls for service over the holiday weekend. Eight DUI arrests were made by the sheriff’s department, one being the individual involved in Sunday’s collision.

The sheriff’s department was also involved in the investigation of several fires which broke out over the long weekend. Wood said foul play is suspected in at least one of those fires. Someone apparently burglarized a home on East Adkins Arthur Road in eastern Pulaski County and then used gasoline or a similar substance to set fire to the home. The sheriff’s department and the Somerset Fire Investi-gation Team are looking into the incident.

Somerset Police officers responded to 302 calls for service and seven non-injury accidents from 6 p.m. Friday until midnight Monday, SPD Detective Lt. Shannon Smith said.

Seven DUI arrests were made within the Somerset city limits. Four individuals were arrested for alcohol intoxication, and two more were arrested on drug charges.

Smith said the department responded to 50 more calls in the 2010 Labor Day weekend than during the same weekend in 2009. He also said the number of injury and non-injury accidents decreased this year over last year.

“The numbers we needed to go up, like DUI arrests, went up — and the numbers we needed to go down, like injury accidents, did,” Smith noted.

“Not that we want DUI arrests to go up, but it shows that our patrol units are out there making sure the streets are safer by keeping these people off the roads.”

One Somerset Police officer was assaulted by a juvenile Friday, Smith said.

“Officer Mike Correll was investigating a shoplifting incident at Walmart, and located the suspect near Kemper Furniture,” he said.

The shoplifter, a juvenile, was appre-hended after he attempted to flee on foot — but once he was caught, he head-butted Correll and attempted to flee again. The juvenile was lodged in the Adair County Juvenile Detention facility in Columbia.

Smith said Correll was not injured.

Somerset Police are still investigating the disap-pearance of two local individuals.

Ernest “Ernie” Gilliland Jr., 32, of Somerset, was reported missing Sept. 4 after he was last seen on Sept. 1. His vehicle was found abandoned off Gilliland Road, about one mile east of Somerset. Search crews, including the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department helicopter and a local cadaver dog unit, combed the area Monday, but did not locate Gilliland, Smith said.

Margaret Woodall, 46, also of Somerset, has also been reported missing by her family. She has not been seen since Aug. 23. Her silver 2003 Honda Accord with Kentucky registration 277-FJY is also missing, Smith said.

Detectives have been looking into the possibility she may be in Ohio.

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