TIFTON — Two Tifton police officers were honored Monday night at the Tifton City Council’s workshop session for their service under harrowing conditions.
Officer Dorminey McCrae was stopped at a nearby red light the night of April 7 when he got the call of an armed robbery in progress at the Piggly Wiggly on Tift Avenue. When McRae and a deputy entered the store, they learned that the offender was holding someone hostage inside the store’s office.
TPD Chief Jim Smith told council members and those present at Monday’s meeting that McRae climbed on top of an ice cream freezer to look into the office where the robber was holding 16-year-old clerk K.C. Touchton hostage. Smith also credited Touchton for keeping her composure, making eye contact with McRae and moving aside so the officer could shoot the man in the head. Touchton was not physically injured.
“If it wasn’t for her, I couldn’t have done what I did,” McRae said. “She’s real quick too. I never saw her leave.”
Smith presented McRae with the Medal of Honor and a certificate for his service.
On April 19, officer Eddie Bailey was on patrol checking property at the Sun Mart convenience store on South Central Avenue when he saw a person wearing a mask in the alley behind Willis Country Meats. He began driving toward the person when another approached his patrol car on the passenger’s side and fired one shot into the car. The bullet struck Bailey in the neck.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that there would have been an armed robbery that night,” Smith commented.
Smith said Bailey was able to obtain consciousness and his composure and recognized the person who shot him. Curtis Jermaine Akins, 25, 515 Elm St., has been charged with shooting Bailey.
“He handled himself very well,” Smith said.
Bailey was awarded the department’s Purple Heart and a certificate for his service.
To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.
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