Wounded Nashville Officer Continues Recovery

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A veteran officer remained hospitalized and was scheduled for more surgery on Friday after being shot multiples times along Interstate 40 in Nashville on Thursday afternoon.

Police arrested two men, including a Mississippi prison escapee, after Sgt. Mark Chesnut, 44, was hit multiple times during a traffic stop at about 1:30 p.m.

Police spokesman Don Aaron said Chesnut was entering information into his in-car computer when police believe a suspect, who had been pulled over in a Dodge Magnum with Georgia tags, walked up and opened fire near exit 196 in Bellevue.

Chesnut, a 22-year veteran of the Metro Police Department, was wearing body armor. John Morris, director of Vanderbilt Medical Center's Trauma Division, said Chesnut was shot in the stomach, colon, gall bladder and liver.

"This is a life-threatening injury," said Morris. "He's on the ventilator, he's on life support, but we're all very hopeful that ultimately he will return home to his family and ultimately return to work."

He was driving an unmarked car as part of an interstate highway traffic enforcement effort, said Aaron.

Aaron said that Chesnut was alert and talking before surgery. Chesnut underwent one surgery shortly after the shooting and a second surgery on Thursday night. He was scheduled to have another surgery on Friday morning and was in the trauma sector of the intensive care unit of Vanderbilt Medical Center.

Video showed many Metro officers and troopers from the Tennessee Highway Patrol outside the hospital in support of the injured officer.

Two men connected to the shooting, Joseph Jackson and Courtney Logan, were arrested on Hermitage Avenue near downtown within an hour of the shooting. Police said the men at first refused to get out of the vehicle, but they then surrendered without incident.

Jackson, 29, escaped from police custody in Mississippi during an eye appointment Thursday morning and left in a car driven by another man.

Jackson was serving a life sentence at the Delta Correctional Facility in Greenwood, Miss., for armed robbery and aggravated assault. Police testified that Jackson confessed to shooting Chesnut on Thursday, and the gun used in the shooting was one that was stolen from a Mississippi prison guard during his escape.

Police secured some type of weapon from the suspects' vehicle when the men were arrested.

"These were some dangerous, dangerous, dangerous people who cowardly attacked Sgt. Chesnut while he sat in his car running their license plate," said Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas.

Bother of the suspect's bonds have been set for more than $3 million. Jackson was charged with attempted homicide on a police officer, gun charges and for being a fugitive from justice.

Aaron said that another officer saw Chesnut at the traffic stop and, when he got word that Chesnut had been shot, turned around to assist.

Serpas said that even though Chesnut had been shot, he was in constant communication with police, leading to a quick arrest and preventing other people from being injured.

It was unclear why Chesnut first pulled over the vehicle.

Chesnut's wife and child had been on vacation in southern Alabama but were quickly brought to Nashville by a THP helicopter. The sergeant's wife was by his bedside on Thursday night.

Parts of I-40 eastbound were shut down Thursday afternoon in the Bellevue area from mile marker 195 to 211. The eastbound lanes were blocked as far as Pegram while police investigated.

Republished with permission of WSMV-TV.