Knoxville, TN (WOKI) The teen charged in the murder of a 13 year-old girl in Powell appears in court.
Fifteen year-old Malakiah Harris was in court Wednesday morning as Juvenile Court Judge Tim Irwin oversaw the status hearing, checking in on the defense and prosecution. Harris’ attorney says he is making progress on the defense’s investigation, while the prosecution says they are waiting on forensics testing.
The prosecution made a request of Judge Irwin asking that Harris’ siblings be barred from the neighborhood where Savannah Copeland, the victim, lived and the Judge agreed and requested the children stay away from the area.
Copeland’s body was found, stabbed, on a walking trail in Powell last year. Her death prompted the passing of the Savannah Grace Copeland Act, which increased funding for child advocacy centers.
Harris will next appear in court September 26 at 8:30 a.m.
Juvenile Court Judge Tim Irwin oversaw the status hearing, checking in on the defense and prosecution. (Courtesy: WVLT)
Union County, TN (WOKI) The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is investigating a fatal boating incident on Norris Lake in Union County, the 15th fatal boating incident in Tennessee this year.
TWRA received the call Wednesday night that someone was receiving CPR aboard a vessel on the lake near Hickory Point Subdivision.
The preliminary information shows that 53 year-old Kevin Allen of Ohio had been wakeboarding and fell into the water.
When he got back on, he began experiencing a medical emergency and soon lost consciousness.
Despite rescue efforts, Allen was pronounced dead at the scene. A witness says he had a medical condition that may have contributed to the incident.
The official cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner. At this time, it is unclear whether the incident was solely medical in nature or triggered by recreational boating activity.
Kevin Allen, a 53-year-old man from Middletown, died near the Hickory Point subdivision, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. (Courtesy: TWRA)
Help us grant East Tennessee Teacher’s Classroom Wish Lists presented by Ted Russell Ford Lincoln! We want to help make sure our teachers have what they need for their classrooms. Many of our teachers have wish lists on Amazon. Let’s work together to grant their wishes!
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KNOXVILLE, TN – The Knoxville Fire Department (KFD) responded yesterday morning to a residential fire on Gillespie Avenue, marking the second electrical fire in just 48 hours caused by the overloading of a power strip.
After an on-scene investigation, KFD fire investigators determined the cause of the fire on Gillespie Avenue to be the same as a fire that occurred earlier this week on Fremont Place—an overloaded power strip used to supply electricity to multiple high-demand appliances.
“This is the second time in as many days we’ve seen a preventable fire caused by overloading power strips,” said Assistant Fire Chief Mark Wilbanks. “These devices are not designed to handle high-wattage equipment like space heaters, air conditioners, or multiple kitchen appliances at once. When overloaded, they can quickly overheat and ignite.”
The Knoxville Fire Department urges all residents to follow safe electrical practices:
• Avoid plugging multiple high-wattage devices into any power strip.
• Never use extension cords or power strips for permanent wiring.
• Ensure power strips are UL-listed and have built-in surge protection.
• Regularly inspect cords and strips for damage or signs of overheating.
The Knoxville Fire Department will continue to raise awareness about electrical safety and encourages residents to take preventative action to avoid similar incidents.
KNOXVILLE, TN (Story courtesy of WVLT) – Three Knoxville Police Department sergeants are suing the city, claiming they’ve been underpaid ever since the city revamped it’s emergency responder payment plan.
The three sergeants — Barry Scott Coffey, Matthew W. Gentry and James N. Lockmiller — claim in the lawsuit that they were placed on the wrong “step” in the city’s pay scale. As such, they claim they’ve been underpaid for years and are demanding compensation.
The plan was approved by city council and enacted in the city’s 2022 and 2023 budget. It enacted the step-based plan, which places employees of the police department in specific categories that decide how much they take home each year. In some ways, an employee’s “step” corresponds with how long they’ve held their current position; that’s what Coffey, Gentry and Lockmiller have issues with.
“Nevertheless, [the] City of Knoxville, through Mayor Kincannon’s office, has failed to follow the Pay Step Plan as enacted,” the lawsuit reads. “Without notice or an opportunity to be heard, at implementation in July 2022, and each year since, [the city] has placed [Coffey, Gentry and Lockmiller] and other Police Sergeants and Police Lieutenants at arbitrary lower steps.”
Specifically, the suit said Coffey, who has served as a sergeant for 12 years, was placed at Step Two in 2022. Similarly, the suit said Gentry (a sergeants of two years) was placed at Step One and Lockmiller (an 11-year sergeant) had been placed at Step One.
The lawsuit points to a press release from Mayor Indya Kincannon’s office, which said the step plan allowed “uniformed employees to advance each year throughout their careers.”
In previous transitions to step plans, city and county employees have been placed on “steps” that don’t correspond to how long they had served in that position. Instead, employees were placed on an initial “step” that closest fit to their existing salary, pre-transition to the step plan.
That being said, there has been no word from the city explaining how it decided which “step” to originally place employees at. That lack of transparency was one of the problems listed in the suit.
“[Coffey, Gentry and Lockmiller] nevertheless filed grievances essentially requesting (1) that they be properly reclassified under the Pay Step Plan enacted by the City Council, and (2) that they be furnished with the formula, if any, used to determine their current classification,” the lawsuit reads.
It adds that the city refused both requests, saying compensation disputes aren’t the responsibility of the Civil Services Merit Board, the body that oversees the city’s personnel policies.
It’s a similar problem a gang of veteran Knoxville firefighters ran into in January when they filed a similar suit. In that lawsuit, the firefighters claimed the city was underpaying more experienced firefighters.
In all, the three KPD sergeants are asking the city be ordered to pay each of them for the money they claim to have lost since 2022 and place them higher on the scale.
WVLT News reached out to KPD and the City of Knoxville for a statement. A representative for the police department declined to comment; the city has not responded.
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Hancock County, TN (WOKI) An East Tennessee paramedic has died in a crash in Hancock County.
Officials with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office say Paramedic Cody Satterfield had worked for several years in Jefferson County before moving to Hancock County; he died in a crash on Kyles Ford Highway on Tuesday.
According to a report from the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Satterfield was driving north on Kyles Ford Highway when he ran off the side of the road and down an embankment. The report also states he was not wearing a seatbelt.
Several emergency responder agencies have released statements about Satterfield’s death, including JCSO which asks for prayers for his family during this difficult time.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office says Paramedic Cody Satterfield had worked for several years in Jefferson County before moving to Hancock County. (Pexels)
Knoxville, TN (WOKI) An investigation is underway following a house fire Wednesday morning in east Knoxville.
Crews were called to the 1600 block of Gillespie Avenue just after 10:00 a.m. and found heavy smoke and fire coming from the home.
Despite the home having a lot of materials in it, crews were able to extinguish the fire in just under 20 minutes. The home suffered significant smoke, water and fire damage.
Two people and one dog were displaced as a result of the fire, but no injuries were reported.
Knoxville Fire Department officials report there were no working smoke detectors in the home.
Firefighters responded to a home on Gillespie Avenue where a fire displaced two people and one dog. (Courtesy:KFD)
