Sheriff recognizes deputy for bravery during arrest

Sheriff recognizes deputy for bravery during arrest

news@theeveningtimes.com

If you ask Crittenden County Sheriff’s Deputy Tony Bailey about his recent arrest of an armed man who had just shot two individuals in Harvard Yard, he will tell you that he was “just doing his job.”

But the way Sheriff Mike Allen sees it, things could have ended up a lot worse.

The suspect could have been fatally shot or worse, Officer Bailey could have been shot.

Instead, Bailey was able to get the man to drop the weapon and take him into custody without having to use deadly force.

Bailey was honored this week by Allen and the department for his bravery and valor for de-escalating what could have been a potentially lethal situation.

“I’m very, very proud of this officer,” Allen said. “I think he handled the situation the best way it could be handled. He used proper discretion. Could he have shot that individual that was threatening him? Probably he could have. But he used discretion and he used common sense and he used his judgement and training we have given him to downplay the situation and make an arrest without harming an individual. That person is in jail. He wasn’t carried to the hospital or carried to the morgue.

Could there have been deadly force used? More than likely.”

On June 20, Bailey and other area law enforcement responded to a call of shots fired at Harvard Yard.

According to Allen, the suspect drove to Harvard Yard where he shot two individuals, then returned to Marion to reload and get more weapons.

He then returned to Harvard

where more shots

were fired.

“He went back and got some more ammunition and returned with the same AR15 assault rifle that he fired before,” Allen said. “He had just shot two people and was trying to leave the area. He had a total of three guns.”

The man fled the scene and was observed by Bailey walking down the middle of the road carrying a hand gun.

The incident was captured on video by Bailey’s body camera and the deputy can be heard ordering the suspect to surrender.

“Get on the ground,” Bailey ordered the man. “Get on the ground.”

“They shot at me earlier,” the suspect can be heard saying.

The man dropped the weapon and was tasered and taken in to custody.

Allen said the video not only shows the officer’s training being put to good use, but also how dangerous police work is.

“We have a job to do and it is a tough job,” Allen said. “Nowadays people can’t handle situations. And there are some people who want to cause bodily harm.

They want to take matters into their own hands. That’s what we are here for, to intervene in that situation.

“We’ve got individuals who are highly trained. He used that training and knowledge and the tools we have and kept the suspect alive to stand trial in our criminal justice system. He used good judgement. That person wasn’t a threat at that time. He did the right thing. I want everyone to come home safely every night to their families. And we want to bring the suspects into the criminal justice system. In this case, they walked into the jail and not the morgue. I think that’s a good thing.”

Allen presented Bailey

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with a copy of the video footage and a framed commendation.

“It is an honor to present this to you,” Allen said.

“I was just doing my job,” an emotional Bailey said.

“I think we have a good department that we should really be proud of because I think we treat people right and with respect,” Allen concluded. “We don’t want to be the spark that sets off a problem. We want to rely on our training and we want to rely on our judgement and we want to make the best decisions.”

By Mark Randall