The Kentucky state trooper who was fatally shot on Sunday night was trying to help the man who allegedly killed him, NBC News reported.
The trooper, Joseph Ponder, 31, pulled over Joseph Johnson-Shanks, 25, on an interstate just after 10 p.m. Ponder quickly discovered that Johnson-Shanks' driver's license was suspended, Kentucky State Police spokesman Jay Thomas said in a news conference.
Two women who were also in the car didn't have licenses either, Thomas said, so Ponder tried to arrange for a hotel for everyone — there were also two young children in the vehicle, police said.
Then, "for an unknown reason," Thomas said, the suspect fled the scene, leading to a 9-mile chase.
