The two Sheriff’s Office deputies, Walter French and Austin Williams, who share the Bulloch County Public Servant of the Year Award for 2023 were involved in a January incident in which a man who shot at them died after they returned fire.

Bulloch County Sheriff Noel Brown nominated French and Williams for the award for their actions in the incident, which he said escalated quickly and unexpectedly into a life-or-death situation. The Outstanding Public Servant of the Year Award presentation capped the 10-agency Public Safety Awards ceremony put on by volunteers with donations from businesses and held again this year in the community building at the Kiwanis Ogeechee Fairgrounds.

“What I love about the community here in Bulloch County is when you hear “Shots fired!” whether it be a trooper, an officer or a deputy, everybody’s coming to check to make sure everything’s OK,” Sheriff Noel Brown told the crowd during his comments on why he nominated French and Williams.

Leaders from all 10 agencies – the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office; Bulloch County Fire Department; Bulloch County Emergency Medical Service; Georgia Bureau of Investigation; Georgia Southern University Department of Public Safety; Georgia State Patrol; Statesboro Fire Department; Statesboro Police Department; Bulloch, Candler & Evans 911 Center; and Air Evac Life team 95 – introduced their nominees during the event.

January tragedy

All of the agencies had submitted nominating letters of varying lengths. Brown’s told a detailed story from Jan. 7, when the Corporal Williams and Deputy French drove to a mobile home park just outside Statesboro in response to a report of an elderly disabled man being physically assaulted by his adult son.

After observing visible injuries on the older man, the deputies attempted to arrest his son. But he refused to comply “and became increasingly belligerent as he stood on the handicap ramp built onto the mobile home,” Brown said in his nomination letter.

Neither French nor Williams had been patrol deputies with the Sheriff’s Office for very long, and both had been hired at first to work as jailers.  But one of them, Brown noted, had Department of Corrections experience, including service on a tactical team, and the other had military training.

In fact, French, 37, originally from Rhode Island, was in his first year in law enforcement but previously served eight years in the U.S. Army, including deployment to Iraq. Williams, 26, a Bulloch County native, started with the Department of Corrections in 2017 and came to work with the Sheriff’s Office in 2019.

“What would happen next demonstrates how quickly a routine arrest escalates into a life-or-death situation,” Brown wrote.

Williams and French attempted to use tasers to complete the arrest, but the suspect, backing away, was “fumbling in his pocked and dropped a weapon,” Brown said Thursday. The two deputies, he said, were able to transition quickly from their tasers to their service pistols.

“Before they can engage, he had got off two rounds,” the sheriff told the banquet crowd. “One of the deputies had fell back on the ramp. The GBI is here tonight and they can attest that those two rounds, only by the glory of God in Heaven missed one of my deputies. They engaged; the gentleman was fatally wounded. …

“At the end of the day, nobody wants anybody to have to lose their life,” Brown said. “He made a choice, and my deputies reacted through training that they have. I am very proud of them and the fact that they didn’t stop right there.”

French attempted to provide first aid to the wounded suspect and could be heard in his bodycam video saying, “C’mon, stay with me!” the sheriff noted in the nomination letter.

He also stated that two bullet holes from the suspect’s gun were found “in almost the exact location on the ramp where Williams landed on his back and returned fire.”

Meritorious Service Awards

Two special Meritorious Service Awards were also presented.
Advanced Patrol Officer Arion Waters of the Statesboro Police Department received a Meritorious Service Award for his actions in response to the drowning of a child in a swimming pool at Cambridge Pines apartments on April 4.

Waters arrived on the scene and immediately began lifesaving efforts, including CPR, continuing until EMS arrived, the nominating letter states. The scene was chaotic, with the mother of the child and several other people present, but Waters remained calm, also remaining with the family at the hospital while the medical staff worked with the child.

“Although the child did not survive, APO Waters gave the young girl a fighting chance,” said SPD Deputy Chief Rob Bryan.

Waters then took action to prevent future, similar tragedies, the nominating statement continues. He contacted the Recreation and Parks Department and coordinated a “Water Safety Day” where children and their parents were invited to the pool at Luetta Moore Park to learn about safety in and around water.

More than 120 children and youth signed up for the event. Waters arranged for several other officers to attend, had lunch provided for the families, and collected enough donations to sponsor swimming lessons for 50 children with the Parks Department.

“It was amazing to watch this officer spend his time and resources to address a tragedy in a way that definitely benefitted the community,” Bryan said. “His efforts may very well lead to saving a life.”

Waters was also the SPD’s Public Servant of the Year nominee.

Sheryl Hagan, administrative assistant to Bulloch County’s sheriffs, received a Meritorious Service Award as she prepares to retire at the end of the year after 50 years of service. She was the only female employee of the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office when she started work there in 1973. Now she is the longest-serving employee of the county government.

“Sheryl’s time at the Sheriff’s Office made it a better place, and she kept many of us sheriffs going in the right direction. …,” Brown wrote. “And the time Sheryl spent here will always be evident – evident in her insistence on performing every task as close to perfection as possible, which she passed along to the staff she trained. … On behalf of all of us that you served, thank you for your service to us, Bulloch County and the Office of the Sheriff.”

Honored nominees

These Public Servant of the Year nominees were also saluted for their service: Capt. Mike Rushing of the Bulloch County Fire Department, Training Officer Ryan E. Jones of Bulloch County EMS, Special Agent Brett Dickerson of the GBI Region 5 Office, Investigator Trevor Williams of the Georgia Southern University Department of Public Safety, Master Trooper Chris Cuddington of Georgia State Patrol Post 45,

Capt. Justin Taylor of the Statesboro Fire Department, Training Officer Keishuna Williams of the 911 Center and Flight Paramedic Kim Williams of Air Evac Lifeteam 95.

Over four decades

Bird Hodges started the tradition of an annual appreciation event for public safety personnel at his pond house in 1976 when there were about 10 full-time law enforcement and firefighting personnel in the county, he said.

“Tonight, we carried out 125 takeout plates for the ones that are working and can’t be here, and then we’re feeding roughly 125-130 in here tonight,” he said Thursday.

A retired funeral home owner who previously served as coroner and county commissioner, Hodges remains coordinator of the Public Servant of the Year banquet, working with Laura Moore, John Allen Smith and Ricky Helton as the organizing committee.

A selection committee, now consisting of retired GBI special agent-in-charge Charles Sikes, county commissioner and retired firefighter Jappy Stringer and retired police chief Stan York, decides who receives the top awards from the nominees honored by the agencies.