COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — A community is mourning the sudden death of a Coweta County deputy who was killed in the line of duty.
Coweta County sheriff’s office officials confirmed that Deputy Sheriff Eric Minix was killed Thursday morning.
According to the investigation, Minix was involved in a chase involving a stolen car on Interstate 85 that crossed into Alabama. During the chase, Minix was run over by a Lanett, Alabama police officer. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
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Minix, 31, leaves behind a wife and three daughters. At a news conference on Thursday, Coweta County Sheriff Lenn Wood described Minix as the “epitome” of what his department strives for every day.
“Get officers like Eric who is dedicated to the county to make sure things are safe here.”
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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.
Wood said Minix was chasing after a man in a stolen car who was driving recklessly on the interstate. The chase went through several counties before it crossed over the Alabama line.
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 the Lanett officer pulled up.
The officer couldn’t stop in time and ran into Minix, according to the sheriff.
“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.
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The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is now leading the crash investigation. They identified the driver of the stolen car as Decedric Donson, 25, of Pensacola, Fla.
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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