RICHMOND COUNTY, Ga. — An Augusta deputy sheriff died Sunday afternoon after inhaling liquid nitrogen while trying to rescue a woman from inside a building.
Richmond County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Sgt. Greg Meagher died while responding to a burglar alarm call at the Xytex Sperm Bank on Everett Road in Augusta.
Investigators said a Xytex employee opened the front door with Meagher and three other deputies and then saw a cloud of liquid nitrogen on the floor.
Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree said the employee went inside to try and shut off a valve, but after she had been gone for several minutes, Meagher and the other deputies went in to search for her.
Roundtree said all four deputies left the building after experiencing breathing problems, but he said Meagher went back in to continue the search.
He never came out.
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Firefighters later discovered his body inside and found the critically injured employee.
The three other deputies were treated at a local hospital and released.
“He knew the risk, and that’s why he ordered his people to stay outside,” said Sheriff Roundtree. “Sadly, not only has a daughter lost a father, a mother has lost a son. This community has lost a guardian, and I have lost a friend.”
Investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration spent the day at Xytex trying to determine how the tank of liquid nitrogen sprang a leak.
Cox Media Group
