Trooper First Class Brandon Bennett's role in the pursuit of fugitives led to his being named Arkansas State Police Trooper of the Year on Thursday.
"I was just doing my job -- the same thing anybody else would have done in this uniform," he told a reporter at a state police awards ceremony in Little Rock. The seven-year veteran shook Gov. Asa Hutchinson's hand and stood next to Col. Bill Bryant, state police director, for pictures.
Bennett, based in Mississippi County, was northbound near the end of his shift on July 1, when he was passed by fugitives on the run from Missouri authorities. Police said the fugitives shot a grocery store owner during a robbery.
The fugitives had already shot at a Mississippi County deputy. They then shot at Bennett as he joined the chase.
He chased the fugitives into Blytheville, where the driver of the getaway car lost control and crashed.
The fugitives then took off on foot. Bennett followed and found one suspect hiding in thick brush. The man resisted arrest, but Bennett was able to handcuff him and turn him over to local authorities.
"I just wanted to get him in custody as quick as I could," he said. "That was about the only thing going through my mind at that point."
Troop C Capt. John Carter said Bennett's actions demonstrate a critical role of state police -- working with local law enforcement. Bennett, who is in Troop C, also was awarded the Medal of Valor.
"It wasn't his pursuit to begin with, but he jumped in," said Carter, who is based out of Jonesboro. "It's a pattern of law enforcement that's worked for generations, where we assist one another."
During the ceremony, Hutchinson and Bryant also presented James Kingsbury, who is assigned to the department's Information Technology Section, with the Civilian Employee of the Year Award. Kingsbury is credited with implementing eCitation software used by law enforcement throughout the state.
Additionally, six state troopers received awards for saving lives.
Cpl. Patrick Schmidt helped save a woman who, while traveling along Interstate 40, had a stroke and stopped breathing.
Trooper Christopher Barnett, in Pine Bluff, chased a vehicle that lost control, overturned several times, then came to rest against an electric pole. Power lines fell on the vehicle, which then caught fire. Barnett pulled the driver from the vehicle.
Trooper Andrew May helped an inmate who attempted suicide.
Cpl. Adrian Ray stopped to help a man change a flat tire, then performed CPR when the man suffered a heart attack.
Trooper First Class Roy Moomey pulled a man from a burning truck.
Special Agent Jake Bartlett, while on vacation, helped save a 2-year-old boy who had fallen from a pier into the Gulf of Mexico.
In his remarks, Hutchinson said that as governor, he's ridden along with the Pulaski County sheriff's office and local parole officers. During his night with the officers, an inmate at the Pulaski County jail recognized him around 2 a.m., and a parole absconder was arrested at the Exxon station near the Governor's Mansion, he said.
Hutchinson, a former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and undersecretary for border and transportation security at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said he firmly believes in the rule of law and the men and women who enforce it.
"Our democracy is founded in the principle of the rule of law," he said. "If our enforcement of the law ever suffers, then our democracy fails."
Metro on 05/13/2016