Response team shines after lights go down
* Editor’s note: Last week, the Graham County Sheriff’s Office invited The Graham Star on a pair of missions: one staged, one very real. This is a firsthand account.
Meadow Branch – It’s not like the fumes crept upon me like a kudzu vine; I could literally see them coming, as a house that all in attendance swore had only been empty for two years began to seep a plume of smoke out of every nook and cranny.
It didn’t help that earlier in the day, the side entry door had swelled to the point that even using a ram to break it down proved to be a difficult task. Two panels were broken out in the process, so the smoke was going to leak regardless.
But as I stood some 10-15 yards from the structure, I felt safe.
After all, I was on the good guys’ side.
Then, it hit me.
Myself and Chief Deputy Cody George split quicker than a toupee in a hurricane, but it was no use: the gas had arrived. For a brief moment in time, my eyes and throat experienced a wonderful burning sensation, but for the most part I was unscathed.
Other members of the Graham County Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team had reached our new rendezvous point 30-40 yards away from the home and began recounting their experience with the 2-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile (say it five times fast; they call it “CS gas” to simplify the effort).
Turns out, the canister had a limited shelf life – and was meant to control an unruly mob, not a small brick home just 1 mile away from Ronnie Milsap spent his childhood.
Narcotics Detective Travis Brooks had entered the home and quickly exited. Used to leading training exercises for both Graham County and at a regional level, Brooks had met the forcefield of tear gas before.
But a bad seal on the mask was his undoing. George called it as soon as Brooks left the home – all the detective could do was nod his head as he began the painstaking process of coughing and recovery. Others at the site – fellow narcotics Detective Matt Cox, patrol Sgt. David Moore, and patrol Deputies Justin Stewart, Dylan Taylor and Chase Hughes – pressed on with the exercise.
The high temperature in Graham County on July 26 teetered around the low 90s. The team had decided just a few hours before to conduct a training exercise – though it was unclear why they waited until midday to do so, when training normally begins at 8 a.m. to avoid the heat of the afternoon. The equipment one must don to participate on the team has to add 10 degrees to the elements: long-sleeved apparel to cover arms and legs; heavy boots; helmets; gloves; bullet-proof vests; and when it’s time to launch riot gas, corresponding masks. The team has never had to deploy gas while attempting to gain entry to a suspect’s home and hopes to never have to.
All on the team belong there. When asked to define the task force, George touted the lineup as a “highly specialized unit within the sheriff’s office. It is made up of qualified deputies who also have various assignments within the agency.”
“SERT has the primary responsibility of responding to hostage situations, barricaded criminals, the execution of high-risk search warrants, arrest warrant service, and other situations which exceed the scope of standard law-enforcement officers tactics, training and resources,” George said. “The No. 1 goal of SERT is the protection of lives and the safe resolution of the incident. Through strenuous training and extreme dedication, SERT members are ready for any situation.
“The team also has specially trained and certified crisis negotiators, who respond to assist in the event they are needed to bring a safe resolution to the incident.”
And they are working under the careful eye of perhaps the most proactive sheriff to ever take office in Graham County, Brad Hoxit. A former state trooper and wildlife officer, Hoxit made history in November when he became the first unaffiliated candidate to ever get the nod for Graham County Sheriff. Hoxit admits the office is down in numbers – five to be exact, with three newcomers undergoing training to fill some of the voids – but the team is hardly sitting idly by in the war on drugs.
In the sweltering July heat, the team successfully breached and cleared the home on Meadow Branch twice. A lot of good-hearted ribbing and tedious set-up became a distant memory when the team kicked into go mode, approaching the home single-file, announcing their presence, ramming the door (the second time went more smoothly) and conducting a quick sweep of each room – weapons in hand to counteract anyone hoping to escape an inescapable situation by trying something foolish.
While it is true that the probability of anything major like a hostage situation or barricaded criminals occurring in Graham County seems low, anything is possible. Better safe than sorry – especially in today’s world.
Search and seize
Robbinsville – Just 48 hours later, the SERT unit hit the road to execute two search warrants inside a Ford Street mobile home park.
Just a few hours before, my phone rang again. I witnessed an exercise firsthand; now it was time to see the team in action.
I met up with the team and followed the procession to the scene. It was surreal to be wedged in the middle of a fleet heading into uncertainty – again, anything is possible.
Fearlessly, they rolled into action faster than the doors on their vehicle wanted to allow. In the blink of an eye, officers penetrated the residences, and had suspects cuffed and in the floor, ready to be searched. One of the homes sadly included a young child; as Hughes cradled the little boy in his arms and carried him outside, Cox said, “That’s the heartbreaking part of this job.”
The real work began. Slowly, the homes were searched. Evidence collected. Bagged. The adrenaline rush of winning one in the battle against a tragic epidemic soon wore off, as Brooks and Cox did quick organizational jobs on the homes they had led the efforts on. A more detailed breakdown would be compiled later, but a TruNarc analyzer gave early indications that the night had been a success.
The Graham County Sheriff’s Office had deputies working that night that had been awake for 21 hours straight. But the sacrifice of rest will provide a long-term cure to the local struggle with methamphetamine, Fentanyl and heroin. Scales and money were also recovered, as well as a homemade smoking device that I am still in awe of – for its ingenuity alone.
After spending so much time around the officers, I can personally vouch for them: they truly are doing the best they can. Upgrades have been made internally and more are in the works. Hoxit and the office collectively have the “Eye of the Tiger” when it comes to cleaning up Graham County.
But after the 4 ½-hour mission, many of those eyes sought a bit of reprieve. One member of the SERT unit was anticipating a two-hour nap before beginning his next shift. The office does its best work after most are in the bed and in the aftermath, does not receive its just due. To bridge the gap, most can keep tabs each week in the arrest report. Hoxit assured me there would be more to report on moving forward – not because things had not been happening already, but bigger things were to come.
All I could think about as I began the late-night trek home was how respectful and effective the entire night was. Seven individuals were arrested; each were booked July 29, after being cleared from the homes. Brooks, Cox and Hoxit each spoke highly about the possibility of the homes being seized, similar to how the office halted illegal activity at one address off of Five Points Road earlier this year.
I glanced at the dashboard clock. It was 2:30 a.m. The SERT training had began exactly 60 hours before.
Talk about a baptism by fire – except there was no flame to be found: the smoke that filled my eyes and lungs came from CS gas instead.