Police Officer Euel Thomas Smith, Sr.

Officer Smith was a very nice guy and a dedicated police officer. I met him at a training session shortly before he was killed. J.D. Collins and I stopped the dangerously mentally ill man for the same type of behavior just a few weeks before he killed Officer Smith when J.D. and I were with Mercer PD.

My younger brother John was a student at Central High School and was one of the students who saw the shooting and was extremely upset as he respected Bubba a lot.

When I was appointed as the Chief of Police later (1989), I was very troubled that the officers still did not have body armor protective screens in the patrol cars and were not issued security holsters-all relevant to Officer Smith's murder. The department had no deadly force/use of force policy and all the officers had to do to qualify was to fire 50 rounds once a year-they could miss all 50 shots and "qualify".

It was troubling to see that a good officer had died due to bad operational practices. Officer Smith was killed with his own weapon because he was not allowed to handcuff the suspect while transporting him to the principal's office. At that time, officers had to get permission from the principal to ban people from school property, arrest them etc. I was shocked to learn that none of this changed by the time I began working for the district. The department and district had never honored him with a plaque, memorial service etc. Officers told me that it was too painful for them to even discuss how and why a very experienced and competent officer died due to poor practices set by civilians who had no clue about proper procedures.

My new Deputy Chief, some great officers and one of the best bosses I've ever had (he was not there when Officer Smith was killed) changed all of the above.

May he Rest In Peace and never be forgotten.

We changed all that and

Chief M. Dorn (former)
Bibb County School District

April 22, 2022