One day, before becoming a police officer, Terry Sawyer was driving toward work in Glenwood, when he noticed a patrolman fighting with a citizen on the side of the road. Sawyer stopped and assisted the trooper.
“They were fighting; it wasn’t a normal traffic stop. There were arms and legs going everywhere,” Sawyer said. “Once he was subdued, I went on to work. I didn’t even get the officer’s name.”
Sawyer said it was after that altercation that he knew he wanted to be an officer. Sawyer, now a patrol officer for the Arkansas State Police, was recently named Hot Spring County Outstanding Law Enforcement Officer of the Year by Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. Sawyer was nominated by his captain, Ron Carson.
“I nominated him because he saved a guy’s life,” Carson said. “He used a tourniquet after someone was shot in the leg, last fall sometime.
“Terry is a good trooper. He’s a good guy and a good family man and a hard worker.”
“I haven’t really thought about it,” Sawyer said about the honor. “I just go out there and do my job. I guess it is an honor to be named that. It was surprising.”
Sawyer played down the honor, saying, “I was just doing my job.”
“I take care of my business when it has to be taken care of, and I just do my job,” Sawyer said. “I do what I am supposed to do, and that is help people and protect people.”
Sawyer graduated from Jessieville High School in 1992 and spent about a semester and a half at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville before dropping out. He said that when he started looking at becoming an officer, he put in for several departments, but he was most interested in working for the state police because they served the whole state — not just a city or a county.
He began in law enforcement by working for the North Little Rock Police Department and was there for a little less than three years. He said he was very fortunate to work for North Little Rock.
“There are some really great people over there, and I got my feet wet over there,” he said. “It was an eye-opening experience — to be on the law enforcement side of it and to see what goes on in the real world.
“Before becoming an officer, I was kind of oblivious to what actually goes on and the calls they actually take and have to deal with.”
Sawyer has worked for the highway patrol for about 7 1/2 years, based out of Troop K in Hot Spring County. But with being a state trooper, he could be sent all over the state, if need be, he said.
“If a disaster happened, like one did in Conway, Mayflower and Vilonia,” he said, referring to the tornadoes that hit the area in 2014 — “I had to go up there that time, and at the time, I was stationed at Troop A, … and I may have to look for people who are lost or work security to prevent people from coming out and looting. It just all depends on what the actual need is at the time.”
Special Agent Ryan Jacks, with the Arkansas State Police, worked with Sawyer for a couple of years.
“He is a solid trooper; he’s always going to put in a hard day’s work,” said Jacks, who was named Saline County Outstanding Law Enforcement of the Year. “We worked together all the time. You could always count on Terry. He would always show up when you needed him.
“I know he is a family man. He loves his wife and kids.”
Sawyers’ older brother, Steve, worked for the Hot Springs Police Department for eight or nine years before quitting to start his own business. Terry Sawyer said he turned to his brother for any advice or tips on becoming an officer.
“He had already quit and started his own business by the time I started,” Sawyer said. “I got advice from him because he had already been in his footsteps.
“I felt it was a calling, and it took my wife about six years to agree to it. I talked to my neighbor’s son, who was a state trooper. I talked to him quite a bit, and I go to church with him and his parents.”
Sawyer said the danger aspect was a huge hesitation for him and his wife.
“And of course, finances,” he said. “You don’t get in this business to get rich. That’s for sure.”
Sawyer said he has always considered himself someone who can be counted on.
“If I’m traveling nowadays and I see an officer in distress, I’m going to stop and help. That is just what we are supposed to do,” he said. “I just enjoying helping people. I’ve always been that type of person.
“For example, a friend of mine had a tree fall on his roof. I helped him cut it off and get his roof covered up.”
Sawyer is a member of Meadowview Missionary Baptist Church in Malvern, and he and his family live in Hot Spring County. Sawyer is currently working with his dad in building a house for his family. He said the property is about 12 acres and will eventually feature cows and chickens.
“I’ve got cows at another piece of property right now because another gentleman is helping me out, and once my house is finished, I will move the cows to the property,” Sawyer said. “I really enjoy being out there with the cows.”
He said farming could become something he will do full time once he retires.
“I don’t think my son understands how much work is involved in farming, because I do a lot of it myself, while he is in school,” Sawyer said. “But as a parent, you’re doing wrong by not making your child do chores and having responsibility.”
Sawyer said his faith has played a big role in his career as an officer.
“Especially when you have to deal with a fatality wreck,” he said. “The worse thing about this job is dealing with kids’ deaths or someone dying unnecessarily.
“That would be the shock. That’s the hardest part of this job to begin with — having to tell someone their loved one is not coming home.”
Sawyer said that if the opportunity presented itself, he wouldn’t mind being promoted, but that is not something he is currently pushing for. He said he still has a lot to learn before he gets promoted.
“He is a real good trooper; he is a good public servant,” Carson said.
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 226-8233 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.