CLARKESVILLE — In a small ceremony in Clarkesville Monday morning, Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell honored four deputies for their attempts to save the life of a Cornelia man involved in a wreck on Ga. 365 on Sept. 9.
Deputy Dakota Foster, Sgt. David Moulder and Lt. Greg Chastain of the Patrol Division and Cpl. Chris Hall of the HEAT (Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic) Unit received the Meritorious Service Awards from Terrell.
“You don’t get a lot of appreciation for a lot of the work,” Terrell told the deputies. “We live in a great community and the people really appreciate what we do for them. I get compliments all the time.”
The wreck happened on Ga. 365 at Tommy Irvin Road near Mt. Airy on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 9.
“Y’all went above and beyond to try to get the man out of the car, even working with the man’s son when he got there,” Terrell told his deputies. “I know you don’t want the limelight. That’s not what it’s about, but when you do good, you need to be honored for doing good.”
The Meritorious Service Award for each deputy states that the deputy, “… without regard for his own safety, did enter a pond where a car was partially submerged, in attempt to save the driver’s life.”
Terrell then presented each of the deputies with a certificate for their work.
“I worked the road for 13 years, so I know what it’s like to be out and go to these wreck scenes and see these kinds of things,” Terrell told AccessWDUN. “When you hear of your guys getting out there and jumping in a pond and busting the window out and trying to save somebody’s life, that’s what we’re here for. They didn’t wait for the fire department, they didn’t wait for anybody else, they just jumped in there and just took care of business.”
Unfortunately, the valiant efforts by deputies, first responders and medical personnel on scene were not enough to save the life of the driver.
“On the other side of that, the man’s son showed up at the scene, and they worked with him, trying to comfort him in that,” Terrell said. “It just shows that in law enforcement you have to wear many hats. You have to be law enforcer, you have to be a chaplain sometimes, you have to be a counselor sometimes, and every now and then you’ve got to throw on your lifesaving gloves and play firefighter, too – not trying to take anything away from what those guys and gals do in their job.”
Terrell said he is thankful to be surrounded by good officers, who go above and beyond to not only protect but to serve those living in, visiting and passing through Habersham County.
“I am much appreciative of the job that not only these guys did, but what all of our officers do every day,” Terrell said. “We get compliments all the time. One of our officers helped out an older couple at Walmart who with a broke-down vehicle — and they were off duty and went home and got a set of jumper cables and came back. You can’t teach those kinds of things to folks. That’s what we strive to do for our community is not only to protect them but to serve them. That’s the service part of giving back to our community.”
