SHIELDS OF SHAME | PREMIUM CASE FILE | COLUMBUS, GEORGIA

Kenneth Wayne Rammage: Seven Shots, a Fleeing Driver, and Years of Disciplinary Warnings

A Columbus police officer fired at a fleeing vehicle in 2022. Department investigators exonerated his use of deadly force. His personnel records, however, document years of reprimands, suspensions, force reports, and early-intervention meetings.

Original records and unwatermarked video are presented for reporting, verification, and public-interest examination. Allegations and administrative findings are distinguished from proven criminal wrongdoing.

Members-only evidence access

This premium investigation includes the body-camera recording, internal affairs materials, disciplinary history, use-of-force reports, dispatch records, and supporting documents. Site administrator: apply your membership plugin’s access restriction to the entire page before publishing. WordPress “Private” status is not the same as paid-member access.

Watch: Shots fired on Fall Drive

January 5, 2022. Body-camera footage supplied with the case materials. Viewer discretion advised for firearm discharge and potentially disturbing scenes. The recording should be evaluated alongside dispatch records and investigators’ accounts.

Additional Body Camera: Talking to the Owner of the Car That Fled

This additional recording is labeled as a conversation concerning the owner of the vehicle that fled the January 5, 2022 police encounter. Watch alongside the shooting footage and the department’s investigative report. Ownership of a vehicle does not, by itself, establish who was driving it.

Video uploaded via FTP. If playback fails, verify the exact filename and server permissions.

What happened on January 5, 2022?

Columbus officers were dispatched to the Fall Drive area after a report of someone in the woods with a flashlight. The encounter followed an investigation involving a stolen vehicle and a foot pursuit. According to Columbus Police Professional Standards Case 22-01, Officer Kenneth Rammage and Sergeant Damien Jones approached a dark-colored vehicle at the dead end of Fall Drive near Bowen Boulevard.

Investigators reported that the vehicle backed toward the officers and subsequently moved forward. Rammage fired seven rounds from his department-issued Smith & Wesson handgun. The vehicle struck a parked vehicle, continued away, and was not located by investigators at the time described in the case summary. The driver was not identified in that investigation.

The Professional Standards findings categorized the allegation under the department’s deadly-force policy as exonerated. That is an administrative determination, not a substitute for independent analysis of the video, the available alternatives, or the circumstances surrounding the decision to shoot.

What the disciplinary history reveals

The 82-page disciplinary file contains employee early-intervention reviews dated July and December 2019. They catalog prior field-use-of-force reports, pursuit reviews, citizen complaints, and formal disciplinary actions. Among the actions identified are letters of reprimand and suspensions for policy matters involving reporting requirements, neglect of duty, and other violations. The records do not establish that every force incident was improper: several were classified as justified.

These records raise an oversight question: how did supervisors assess the cumulative pattern, and what training or corrective measures followed the earlier warnings? Readers can examine the complete file below rather than relying on a single selected excerpt.

Earlier force incidents

September 2017: A use-of-force report documents a takedown during a traffic-related encounter. August 2018: Another report documents Rammage’s Taser deployment during an encounter involving Joseph Best at a hotel. August 2019: A Taser report records an unsuccessful deployment during an encounter with Brandon Roberts, who escaped. October 2019: Another Taser report describes a pursuit involving James Hopson. These are distinct incidents, each requiring its own context and findings.

Georgia POST certification questions

A Georgia POST officer profile generated March 31, 2025 lists Rammage’s basic certification and specialized certifications as suspended under a POST sanction, while also showing an investigation opened March 20, 2025. The same historical profile lists Columbus Police employment. This is a snapshot from March 2025; it does not establish his present employment or current certification status. A newer POST record and underlying disciplinary order are needed to establish what occurred subsequently.

A separate shooting — not evidence against Rammage

A Columbus Police Department release dated March 18, 2025 concerns the February 7, 2024 shooting of Jermaine Hernandez and reports grand-jury indictments of officers for aggravated assault and aggravated battery. The provided release does not identify Rammage as one of those officers. It is retained in this collection as departmental context only and should not be presented as an allegation against him.

The open-records trail

A March 31, 2025 response estimated $299.40 to retrieve and redact an employee roster. A subsequent April 3 response said the roster was provided without charge. In October 2025, Columbus Police identified officer-camera footage, 911 CAD, and OPS Case 22-01 as available while reporting no dash-camera footage, 911 audio, or photographs for the specified request. The department invoiced $53.79 for video-related work. Those correspondence records permit readers to scrutinize the public-records process alongside the underlying shooting.

The unwatermarked evidence vault

Each link opens the original supplied document in a new tab. These are source records, not reconstructed summaries. Sensitive personal information may still be present; publication should be reviewed before granting member access.

📄 2022 Deadly Force Report ↗📄 Internal Affairs Case 22-01 ↗📄 Professional Standards Complaint ↗📄 82-Page Disciplinary File ↗📄 Georgia POST Officer Profile ↗📄 911 CAD Dispatch Records ↗📄 2017 Use-of-Force Report ↗📄 2019 Taser Report UF19-75 ↗📄 2019 Taser Report UF19-90 ↗📄 Records Cost Estimate ↗📄 Records Release Letter ↗📄 Subpoena Document ↗📄 2025 Grand Jury Statement — Separate Incident ↗📄 Columbus PD Workforce and Salary Report ↗📄 Xavier Perez POST Profile ↗

Questions still requiring answers

Who was driving the unidentified vehicle? Was the vehicle ever recovered? What subsequent review, if any, evaluated the shooting independently? What was the basis and final disposition of the March 2025 POST action? Did Rammage remain employed after that date? These questions are not answered conclusively by the documents reviewed here.

Editorial standards: This report separates officer accounts, departmental findings, public records, and unresolved questions. An exonerated policy finding is reported as such. Mention in a personnel file is not proof of misconduct, and a certification status shown on a dated profile should not be treated as current without verification. © Shields of Shame.