Funeral arrangements announced for Coweta deputy hit, killed by officer after chase

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — The family of a Coweta County deputy killed in the line of duty announced his funeral plans on Friday.

Deputy Sheriff Eric Minix died on Wednesday night after an Alabama police officer hit and killed Minix after a high-speed chase ended.

The Coweta County Sheriff’s Office and Minix’s family will hold a visitation on Sunday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and a memorial service on Monday at 11 a.m. All of the services will take place at Crossroads Church in Sharpsburg.

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Coweta County Sheriff Lenn Wood said that a driver in a stolen car led Minix on a high-speed chase that crossed several counties and entered Alabama on Wednesday night.

Wood said that Alabama officers had set up stop sticks, which stopped the high-speed chase. Minix got out of his car and started to give commands to the driver when an officer with Lanett, Ala. police pulled up.

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The officer couldn’t stop in time and ran into Minix, according to the sheriff. Minix died at a hospital. The 31-year-old leaves behind a wife and three daughters.

“He is very much loved. He is a friend, a father, a son, a brother and most of all he was a law enforcement officer first. That’s all he ever wanted to do. What these men and women do each and every day is dangerous. And I ask that you pray for him and his family, for our family, but also pray for the Lanett police department and the officer involved there. Pray for each and every one of them,” Wood said.

Minix started with the Coweta County Sheriff’s Department in 2014 before he left to join the Tyrone police department for five years. He returned to the sheriff’s office and brought his K-9 with him. The department eventually moved Minix to its crime suppression unit.

Alabama officials identified the stolen car suspect as 25-year-old Decedric Donson. The Chambers County Sheriff’s Office booked Donson on charges of receiving stolen property in the first degree and felony attempting to elude.

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