The top brass at Haw River’s police department joined Alamance County’s sheriff this week to honor a pair of local law enforcement professionals whose prompt and diligent actions saved the life of a suspect in police custody.
During a meeting of Alamance County’s commissioners on Monday, police sergeant Jackson Brinkley and sheriff’s deputy John T. Ray were each recognized with a departmental life-saving award for their joint efforts to resuscitate the aforementioned suspect after an apparent drug overdose on November 3.
According to Brian Phillips, Haw River’s assistant chief of police, Brinkley had detained this individual for his uncooperative behavior during a traffic stop. He then turned the suspect over to Ray, who detained him in the back of his patrol car, while Brinkley tried to determine the individual’s identity.
Unbeknownst to the either the deputy or the police officer, the suspect had consumed a large quantity of narcotics before the encounter, and he ultimately lost consciousness inside the deputy’s patrol car. Without a moment’s hesitation, Ray removed the suspect’s handcuffs and began CPR, while Brinkley dashed back to his own vehicle and returned with a can of Naloxone, which he swiftly administered.
“Given these quick actions – the performance of CPR and the administration of Naloxone – by these officers, the individual was saved from his current medical crisis,” the town’s assistant police chief concluded. “He refused any further treatment after the administration of the Naloxone and was last known to be in the custody of the jail.”
Once Phillips concluded his account, Brinkley received a plaque and a commemorative pen from Haw River’s police chief Toby Harrison, who was joined for the presentation by the town’s mayor Kelly Allen. Meanwhile, Ray received similar tokens of appreciation from sheriff Terry Johnson, while the members of Alamance County’s board of commissioners looked on in approval.
