A Hardin County roadway has been dedicated to a Kentucky State Trooper killed in the line of duty.
The city of Elizabethtown dedicated a road off New Glendale Road that runs between Kentucky State Police Post 4 headquarters and the new East Hardin Middle School in honor of Trooper Cameron Ponder, who was killed on September 13, 2015.
KSP Post 4’s new address is now 954 Cameron Ponder Drive, according to The News-Enterprise, as Ponder’s badge number was 954.
Ponder, a 2002 graduate of North Hardin High School, was from Rineyville.
Ponder, 31, was shot to death during a high-speed pursuit in Lyon County when the man he was pursuing, Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks, hit his brakes, causing Ponder to crash into him. Johnson-Shanks then opened fire, shooting 11 times into Ponder’s vehicle, fatally striking the young trooper.
Johnson-Shanks was located soon after the shooting and shot and killed by troopers after refusing to drop his weapon.
Ponder was assigned to KSP Post 1 in Mayfield at the time of his death. He graduated from the KSP Academy in 2015.
(Photo of dedication ceremony courtesy of The News-Enterprise)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
