Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam and Police Chief Sterling Owen today named Officer Randall Smith the January Officer of the month for the Knoxville Police Department. Smith has been an officer for the department since June 2006.
On January 30, 2009, Officer Smith was conducting traffic enforcement in the school zone for West High School when he stopped a vehicle for speeding 12 miles over the 20 mile-per-hour school zone speed limit. Officer Smith was able to identify the driver as Emillio Linares (DOB 05/22/66). Linares was wanted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for Distribution of Cocaine. Linares also had a deportation order on file. Linares was turned over to ICE for processing.
Later on the same day officers were alerted to an armed robbery in progress call at the FSG Bank on Northshore Drive. Witnesses alerted officers that the suspect had fled the bank on foot. While officers were setting up a perimeter and the K9 was beginning a track, Officer Smith located the suspect in the parking lot of a nearby motel. Officer Smith took the suspect into custody with the assistance of other officers, KCSO Deputies, and agents with the FBI.
The suspect, David Taylor (DOB 12/02/60), was wanted for a bank robbery in Chattanooga that had occurred two days earlier. Taylor was turned over to the FBI where he was charged with two bank robbery charges.
On January 31, 2009, at approximately 2:00 p.m., Officer Smith was searching for s suspect wanted in connection to a homicide that had occurred at the Middlebrook Inn. Smith noticed a subject matching the description of the suspect walking on Third Creek Drive. Officer Smith immediately got out with the subject and positively identified him as the person wanted for questioning in the homicide investigation. The suspect, Curtis Wyatt (DOB 05/17/64), was also wanted for a violation of probation. Wyatt was indicted in February by a Knox County Grand Jury on a First Degree Murder charge.
Chief Owen said, "In two days Officer Smith captured an undocumented alien with a deportation order because of his dealing drugs, an armed bank robbery suspect, and a murder suspect. There's no doubt that his actions made the streets of Knoxville much safer."
Mayor Haslam said, "This is an example of outstanding police work by Officer Smith. We commend him on a job well done."