Officials brought the bodies of two Fulton County sheriff’s deputies back to metro Atlanta Wednesday.
Kenny Ingram and Anthony White were traveling to pick up an inmate when their patrol car crashed into an 18-wheeler on I-20 near Augusta on Tuesday.
Channel 2 Action News went to GBI headquarters where a motorcade of officers escorted their bodies home from Columbia County.
Channel 2′s Tom Jones and Channel 2′s Mark Winne spent the afternoon talking with the deputies' co-workers about the impact the two men had.
It has been a difficult time for their brothers and sisters in blue. Lt. Vivian Dixon Bradford led the convoy for the deputies who worked under her command.
Bradford said Ingram and White were excellent employees. She told Jones Deputy Ingram loved talking about his twin daughters. White was a comedian and had been cracking jokes before they left.
That morning during roll call, she told both of them to be safe.
“It was devastating. Unreal. Unreal,” Bradford told Jones.
The loss is also unreal for Winfrid Webb, who grew up best friends with White in Bankhead Courts. Webb remembered police beating him and White as teenagers. He said that experience played a role in why White wanted to get into law enforcement.
“And that’s probably why he was a great sheriff. A police officer because he knows what it’s like to be mistreated,” Webb said.
The two had lunch recently and promised to see each other more often. Now that won’t happen. Webb wants everyone to know how much White will be missed.
“That’s a great human. Loved to give back and help others. He’s a wonderful man," Webb said.
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Ingram and White’s primary jobs were to transport prisoners in Atlanta and around the state. Beyond the nice things people had to say about the departed deputies, their co-workers said they really did go above and beyond their work. Sgt. LaPrincess Jenkins and Lt. Col. Shawn Jones said to Ingram and White their job was more than a job.
“We worked as a team. We drew strength from each other,” Jenkins said.
“Deputy White, dealing with the issues with the juveniles, he always knew how to calm those juveniles down,” Jones said.
“He built a rapport with them that nobody else could build,” Jenkins said.
Capt. Damien Butler remembers the excitement Ingram who had served in the military, expressed about his job, especially when he learned he’d be the driver of an MRAP for the sheriff’s SWAT team.
“He just lit up. He was like cap I got you,” he said.
Fulton County Sheriff Ted Jackson called the deaths a very tragic situation not only for the sheriff’s office but also for the families and communities.
Jackson told Winne that churches, other departments and government leaders have been reaching out with sympathy and offers of help.