KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — It was a busy post-Thanksgiving weekend for the Knox County Sheriff’s Office and some of the busyness was featured live on television with the show “On Patrol: Live.”
Deputy John Longendorf and K-9 Enoch were the stars of the Knox County portion of the show. K-9 Enoch was the partner of fallen deputy, Tucker Blakely, who was shot and killed while responding to a domestic call in West Knox County.
KCSO announced in late November it would be taping in the county. The show follows a handful of law enforcement agencies around the country on Friday and Saturday nights.
Drugs, traffic stops and a shooting were all featured during Knox County’s portion of the show. Across both episodes, the show featured Longendorf on six different calls. Five of those calls were traffic stops and the sixth was a call for shots fired.
The first call on Friday night was a traffic stop that led to a search of a vehicle. Viewers didn’t get to see the full interaction but police called in K-9 Enoch, who alerted to drugs being in the car. Longendorf searched the car and found a brown powder, what he believed to be fentanyl. Longendorf started searching one of the men who was in the car but it’s unclear if he was arrested or cited.
The next traffic stop was an 18-year-old driving a BMW. It was unclear why exactly he was stopped. Longendorf has a casual conversation with the driver and his 17-year-old passenger. He learns the driver recently dropped out of college and wants to be a cop. He gave them the sheriff’s office recruiting website.
Just as the show was about to cut away, Longendorf gets called to a hit and run. He gets in his car and takes off but is quickly told to stand down when they learn a suspect had been detained. Longendorf updates the audience about the incident, saying there was a woman trying to hit someone with a car and backed into a building. He said she took off from the scene but deputies caught up with her. Longendorf said the woman was naked and had three children in the car at the time of her arrest.
Saturday night’s episode got a lot more intense. The first was a traffic stop at the Scottish Inns. The woman’s car did not have a driver’s side mirror. The woman tells Longendorf her driver’s side door is broken when he asks her to get out of the car.
The woman asks why she’s being asked to get out of the car. Longendorf responds in a non-threatening tone, “Because I asked you to.” She asks why again and he asks her to get out of the car again. The woman ask why one more time. Longendorf grows a little frustrated and tells her if she doesn’t get out, he will drag her out but “I don’t wanna have to do that.”
When the woman gets out of the car, he asks why she’s being so fidgety and she tells them they are “freaking her out.” Longendorf explains that he’s been respectful and calm. Then the woman quickly admits to having crack in the car. K-9 Enocho is called in again and the show cuts to a different city. Viewers later learn the woman was out on bond for drugs and was arrested and taken to jail.
The next call viewers are taken on is yet another traffic stop. This time for driving too slow on Clinton Highway. The show quickly cut away from the call.
Longendorf then gets a call for reports of shots fired. The only thing he knew at the time was two armed individuals were firing at each other. When the show cuts back to him, Longendorf has a large gun out and is walking through a mobile home park. The deputy hears something then, Longendorf and another deputy start running. They come upon two officers arresting someone on the ground, they look inside one of the mobile homes and he gets back in his car.
Viewers learn three people have been detained in the call and two were still on the run. They called in a helicopter to help with the search.
Deputies come across two men in a car parked in a driveway. Longendorf approaches the car with his gun drawn and tells the men to show him their hands and to get out of the car. Longendorf along with other deputies handcuff the men and search them. They learn they don’t speak English, they don’t match the description and they are quickly let go.
Soon after, Longendorf learns the helicopter spotted a possible suspect jumping a fence in the area. Longendorf pulls into another trailer park where he gets out of his car and starts walking with his sidearm in his hand.
The show picks up with Longendorf back in his car headed to the Shotsman area. When he arrives, viewers see three deputies pulling a man out of a large bush. The man is placed in handcuffs and says he doesn’t speak English. Then, Longendorf asks him – in English – where he’s from. He says Honduras. The man did not have an ID and Longendorf said he smelled of alcohol. He said the man was going to be taken back to the original crime scene to be interviewed by a bilingual officer. They said only one suspect was still outstanding.
The show closes out to Longendorf and other deputies clearing several large garages in the search for the last suspect.
Knox County Sheriff's Office gave WBIR information on the incident Sunday morning. KCSO said deputies were shot at while responding to the call. There was no mention of that on the show.
On Patrol: Live airs Fridays and Saturdays at 9 p.m. on the REELZ network. It can also be streamed on Peacock the next day.
