In memory • Candlelight vigil held for Scruggs


Thursday, July 7, 2011
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In memory
• Candlelight vigil held for Scruggs

By SUE WATSON
Staff Writer

Courtesy photo

Family members of the late Marshall County deputy Carol Scruggs gather for a memorial with sheriff Kenny Dickerson (back) and Collierville Police Officer Davis. Davis provided an autographed basketball for Scruggs’ grandchildren. The basketball was signed by coach Josh Pastner, head basketball coach at the University of Memphis.

More than 100 law officers, friends and family members of the late Marshall County deputy Carol Scruggs met on the anniversary of her death Saturday, June 25, to remember her contributions to law enforcement and to the community.

The crowd gathers on North Red Banks Road.

Officers and friends and family met at the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department and traveled in convoy to the site of the accident in Coldwater River bottom on North Red Banks Road, according to sheriff Kenny Dickerson.

He said Scruggs is the only female to lose her life while on duty in the history of the department, as far as he knows. Two others, sheriff Osborne Bell and Potts Camp police chief Joe Thomason, lost their lives in the line of duty, he said.

Members of the sheriff’s department made remarks at the vigil celebrating the life and dedication to duty exhibited by Scruggs.

“We felt it was the least we could do for an officer and Carol and her family,” the sheriff said.

The department plans to place a permanent marker at the site near the roadside where her patrol car left the road and flipped as she was hurrying to a call in the Slayden community in the early hours of the day.

“She was a one-of-a-kind officer, with impeccable work ethics,” he said. “She could be as tough as she needed to be if the occasion arose or she could be as kind as she needed to be. She never complained and did the work of three officers without having to be forced to do so.

“She dedicated her heart and soul to law enforcement and public safety in her many years of service and helped to make Marshall County and Mississippi a better place to live.

“She worked so well in the community. It is hard to replace someone of this sort. People do not realize how many shoes she wore, until you start trying to replace them.”

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