Former Ripley police officer indicted on charges of reckless homicide, leaving the scene of an accident

Former Ripley Police Officer Caleb Savage has pleaded not guilty to the charge of reckless homicide in relation to the pursuit of 22-year-old suspect Ryan Mitchell, who lost control of his vehicle and crashed in Mason County, KY while allegedly being pursued by the officer on March 12. Mitchell was later pronounced dead at the scene of the accident by Kentucky police.

Savage has also been charged with leaving the scene of an accident. He was indicted on the charges by a Mason County grand jury, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is free on $10,000 bond.

The Village of Ripley council called a special meeting on June 6 to discuss the officer’s pursuit of Mitchell on the morning the chase took place, and to take questions from the public regarding the incident.

During the special meeting, Ripley Police Chief Corey Herren discussed Ripley’s policies regarding the pursuit of suspects, played recordings of the calls between the Brown County 911 dispatcher and police during the chase, spoke of the Kentucky investigation in the case, and went over other details related to the case.

According to Herren, Kentucky investigators in the case were not as forthcoming with information relating to the investigation of Savage as the Ripley Police Department would have liked, and the Ripley Police Department was not provided with information regarding criminal charges against Savage until he was indicted on charges of reckless homicide and leaving the scene of an accident. Savage did resign from his position following the March 12 incident that led to the charges. But, according to Chief Herren, if the Ripley Police Department would have been notified sooner of the potential charges Savage was facing in Kentucky, the department could have taken action and placed the officer on suspension. It was on May 26 when Savage resigned from the Ripley Police Department, the same day he was indicted on charges in Kentucky.

Savage was appointed as a Ripley Police Officer in February of 2022.

Herren said he questioned Kentucky investigators numerous times if Savage would be facing charges in relation to the crash that led to the death of Mitchell, but wasn’t told of any criminal charges being filed until the day Savage was indicted on charges of reckless homicide and leaving the scene of an accident.

Ripley Council Member Scott Eagan questioned Herren as to exactly when the charges against Savage were brought to the Ripley Police Department’s attention.

“When was the village made aware that Mr. Savage would likely be facing some type of grand jury action?” Eagan asked.

Herren confirmed that it wasn’t until the day Savage was indicted on the charges, over two months following the March 12 pursuit of Mitchell, that he was made aware of the criminal charges against the former Ripley officer.

Savage was hired by the Ripley Police Department prior to Herren taking the position as police chief.

The original 911 call came in from Budig Drive in Aberdeen at around 5:30 a.m., a resident reporting that a Dodge Charger had struck property and caused significant damage to private property then fled the scene. Savage of the Ripley Police Department was the closest on patrol at the time of the 911 call and traveled to Aberdeen from Ripley to attempt to locate the Dodge Charger, which was expected to have significant damage from the hit and skip. Savage located what he thought was the suspect vehicle, and pursued the vehicle across state lines into Kentucky. Savaged pursued the Dodge Charger suspected in the crime into Kentucky with the Dodge traveling in and out of ditches and crossing the center line of the road. When initiating the lights and sirens, the Dodge Charger allegedly made a right turn onto KY-3056 and accelerated quickly.

“The vehicle was observed to be in and out of ditch lines when conducting turns while fleeing at high rates of speed intially 60 mph plus,” it said in the incident report by the Ripley Police Department.

At the last point of visual observation of the Dodge Charger, it was at or beyond 100 yards in front of the pursuing officer on a brief straight away and only tail lights were observed in the darkness, according to Ripley PD’s incident report.

Savage continued to pursue the vehicle for a short period of time until coming to an area with multiple side roads that the Dodge could have turned onto, according to the Ripley PD’s incident report.

When Savage had lost the vehicle he was pursuing, he turned off his lights and sirens, and headed back to Ripley, according to the Ripley PD report.

According to the Ripley PD report, Officer Savage did not observe any signs that the vehicle had crashed during his pursuit.

Kentucky investigators later did an investigation on the police vehicle driven by Savage at the time of the pursuit. According to Herren, the police vehicle showed no damage.

Some Ripley residents questioned why a Ripley police officer was in pursuit of a suspect in Aberdeen and later into Kentucky, well out of the Ripley’s corporation limits.

“Is there protocol for you to start pursuing in another state?” asked Ripley resident Toni England.

“Yes, it’s a continuation of a crime,” Herren replied.

“I don’t understand how a Ripley police officer was in Kentucky. That makes no sense to me,” said England.

Questions were also raised about the background check conducted on Savage when he was hired as an officer for the Village of Ripley. Savage was hired by former Ripley Police Chief Josh Miller, who conducted the background check.

“When he was hired, I did contact the chief of police in Peebles where he was working, and there had been no issues and he said everything was okay with him being hired here,” Ripley Mayor Nowana Bingaman said of Savage’s hiring with the Ripley Police Department.

Some Ripley residents were also concerned as to why Savage did not have his body camera turned on during his pursuit of Mitchell. The Ripley police vehicle he was driving also did not have a dash cam.

Herren said the Ripley Police Department will be updating its procedures for pursuit of suspects and other protocols that were in effect prior to his administration.

The Kentucky investigation continues. Savage has a pretrial hearing set for Aug. 11 in Kentucky.