THIN BLUE LINE

Police: Cop-Impersonator Suspect Dead After Killing Real Kentucky Officer

“Fake cop” reportedly pulled over actual off-duty cop, shot him and fled.

The man suspected of killing an off-duty Kentucky police officer after impersonating a cop at a traffic stop has been shot dead by law-enforcement authorities, Tennessee officials reported early Friday. The suspect, identified as James DeCoursey, allegedly pulled over and shot 38-year-old Hopkinsville Officer Phillip Meacham, who was driving his personal vehicle, late Thursday. Meacham later died of his injuries at a local hospital. DeCoursey was reported to have fled the scene in a stolen white pickup truck, triggering a manhunt that ended after a “brief encounter” with police in Clarksville, Tennessee, according to a statement from the Kentucky State Police. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is probing the incident.