Man who rammed cop cars sentenced for probation violation

Published 3:32 pm Tuesday, September 29, 2015

By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 45-year-old Alabaster man who rammed several Alabaster police vehicles during a 2012 high-speed chase will spend the next six months in prison after he pleaded guilty to violating his probation on Sept. 21.

Kennedy

Kennedy

Courtney Sherrod Kennedy, who lists an address on Garden Side Drive in Alabaster, pleaded guilty to three felony counts of first-degree attempted assault and one misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment on Aug. 12, 2014.

Through a plea agreement, one felony count of attempted murder against Kennedy was reduced to first-degree attempted assault, and charges of obstructing justice by using a false identity and attempt to elude were dismissed.

His original sentence of 15 years in prison was suspended, and he was placed on probation for three years in 2014.

As a condition of his probation, Kennedy was ordered to report to his probation officer each month. After reporting on Sept. 8, 2014, Kennedy failed to report for multiple months, according to court documents filed by the state Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Kennedy also was ordered to pay the probation officer and pay fines, court costs, restitution, assessments and other court-ordered money. He had an unpaid balance of more than $19,000 in early 2015, according to the document.

Kennedy entered a guilty plea to his probation violation charges on Sept. 21, and Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves sentenced him to six months in the Alabama Department of Corrections followed by the remainder of his original probation sentence.

Alabaster police arrested Kennedy on June 25, 2012, after he led police on a high-speed chase after an attempted traffic stop.

During the chase, police said Kennedy attempted to hit a police car head-on before striking a private citizen’s car on First Avenue, causing minor damage. Kennedy then struck another police car, causing minor damage.

Police said Kennedy then hit another police vehicle head-on near the intersection of First Avenue and Thompson Road, injuring the officer driving the patrol car.

After his vehicle collided with the police car, police said Kennedy fled the scene on foot and ran into a wooded area off Thompson Road. After a two-hour search involving the Alabaster, Helena and Calera police departments and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, officers located and arrested Kennedy off First Avenue near the Fox Valley Apartments before the suspect was transported to Shelby Baptist Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries.