Two law enforcement officers were killed while attempting to serve felony warrants in Powell County, Kentucky, in the winter of 1992. Deputy Arthur Clay Briscoe, a 39-year-old U.S. Army Vietnam veteran who had been on the Powell County Sheriff’s Department for about six weeks, and Sheriff Steve Bennett went to a cabin in the Little Hardwick Creek area on January 30 to arrest Ralph Baze Jr. on warrants from Toledo, Ohio, including assault on a police officer and jumping bail.

Deputy Briscoe first visited the cabin a few weeks earlier but did not find Baze; Baze’s wife warned him, and he later bought an SKS assault rifle in Michigan. On January 30 Baze met Briscoe at the door with the rifle and refused arrest. Briscoe returned with Sheriff Bennett; as the two officers stood with their guns drawn, Baze ambushed them from behind and opened fire. Bennett was shot first; Briscoe returned fire but, after exhausting his weapon, was shot twice in the back and then received a final fatal shot to the back of his head. Briscoe was survived by a 14-year-old son.

Does anyone have memories of Deputy Briscoe, the department at that time, or information about the Little Hardwick Creek area that could shed light on this case?