The chase was over. North Lebanon Township police officer Tim Knight had tracked the speeding motorist over not only streets and roads but through fields and yards. Then, he saw the suspect’s car flip and burst into flames.
“It was like a movie scene, honestly,” he said recently.
But he extinguished the blaze and apprehended the guy, who, by Knight’s recollection, was wanted on a drug charge.
Nothing more to see here. Nothing more to do. Except for one thing.
Tim’s young son Kyle had come on the ride-along of all ride-alongs. And he had one question: How often does this happen?
“Maybe a couple times a week,” Tim joked.
Kyle had always been intrigued by law enforcement. But this … this was something else again. And while it is far from the only reason he has chosen, eight years later, to follow his dad into the profession, it certainly didn’t hurt.
The 26-year-old joined the South Lebanon Township Police Department as a patrolman earlier this year. That followed a standout athletic career at ELCO and a football career that saw him play quarterback at Lock Haven and Clarion.
He has come to understand that police work is far more mundane, far more nuanced than it might have appeared when he accompanied his dad on that chase. The idea, he said, is to help people when they are having a bad day – “when it might be their darkest day,” as he put it – while at the same time understanding that at any given moment, an officer might find him- or herself in harm’s way.
It is a delicate balance, certainly.
“My interaction with someone might be someone’s only interaction that they ever get with the police,” he said. “And obviously, there’s a lot of negativity with police these days. So, it’s my job, if it is their only interaction with police, to make it a really good reaction, so they have a good opinion of police.”
So, he’s polite but professional. Firm but fair. And he relies not only on his training but the interpersonal skills he developed over the years, as a three-sport guy (football/basketball/baseball) at ELCO and in collegiate huddles.
Certainly, he learned by osmosis, too. His dad is 27 years into his police career, the last three of which he has spent as the chief at North Lebanon. (He will serve in the same capacity when his department merges with the one in North Cornwall in January.)
Tim’s wife Tiffiny serves as the secretary for the North Cornwall department, and the couple’s older son, Nick – once a multi-sport star at ELCO himself – is a U.S. Marshal who is based in Scranton but is on assignment to the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
“We’re a family of law enforcement,” Tim said.
That is perhaps the biggest reason Kyle seemed destined to go down this path, though he said there is also great allure in continuing to be part of something greater than oneself.
“I think policing is very comparative to sports in general – mostly football,” he said. “I look at my police department as my team. We have each other’s backs, just like in football. My linemen always had my back. I always had their back. We’re out there for each other. It really brings a sense of camaraderie, and that’s honestly another reason why I wanted to do it.”
It can be said without fear of contradiction that he had his ups and downs in football. He tore his left ACL his junior year at ELCO, then the right twice – in 2018 at Lock Haven and in 2021 at Clarion. He also lost a college season to COVID, meaning he actually retains two years of eligibility; he jokes about someday wanting to use them, though that chapter of his life is officially closed.
He said the first ACL tear actually proved to be a blessing in disguise.
“I didn’t really work that hard when it comes to the weight room before that, but after that, all I knew was the weight room,” he said, “because I knew that if I wanted to come back from this injury and play college football at a high level, I would need to work my butt off. So, I thought there were a lot of benefits to that first injury for me.”
And indeed, he enjoyed a big senior year in 2016 at ELCO, generating 2,424 yards from scrimmage and scoring 22 touchdowns to earn Section Three Offensive Back of the Year honors. He then walked on at Lock Haven and began his freshman year as the eighth-string QB.
Yes, the eighth-stringer.
“I was put in another locker room,” he said. “They gave me No. 40-something.”
Undeterred, he became the starter early that fall, producing 760 yards and eight TDs on the ground, and 655 yards and two scores through the air.
ACL tear No. 2 came in the ’18 season opener.
“That one,” he said, “had me contemplating things – like, why is this happening to me? Things like that.”
But he buckled down, did the rehab, and was again ready to go the following season, in which he threw for 1,708 yards and 10 scores while rushing for 610 yards and six TDs. The Bald Eagles nonetheless went 2-9 for the third straight season and fell to 12-43 in five years under coach Dave Taynor, resulting in his dismissal.
Knight had enjoyed playing for Taynor and began shopping for a new school. He settled on Clarion, only to see the pandemic scuttle his first season and his final ACL tear short-circuit the second, again in the very first game.
“I was a little bit relieved,” he said, “because I put a lot of training and effort into football, and I was kind of tapped out at the end, the training aspects. Three rehabs of six-plus months – yeah, it’s not fun. … I decided to just get my degree and start working.”
That degree was in business, and he became a Medicare broker.
“And,” he said, “I just didn’t enjoy it. It wasn’t really rewarding for me.”
So, after two years of that, he decided to go into the family business.
“I didn’t discourage him, that’s for sure,” Tim said.
Kyle interviewed at South Lebanon in July 2023, and upon acceptance, was enrolled in the police academy. By January of this year, he was receiving on-the-job training. By the following month, he was a full-time patrolman.
“Basically, I love doing it,” he said. “Every day I get out in that car, I feel like it’s game day. I’m excited to go out there and see what happens.”
Yet it is not the big, noisy moments that define the profession, nor define him as an officer. Rather, it is the smaller, quieter ones. The ones where he feels like he is making a connection. The ones where he feels like he is making a difference. The ones where he feels like he’s making someone’s bad day just a little bit better.
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