Dangers Of Serving Arrest Warrants

Alabama Foley Sheriff deputies across the Gulf Coast are on alert after a Mobile County deputy was shot while serving a warrant.

by Pat Peterson

Published: Wed, June 10, 2009 - 4:30 pm CST Last Updated: Wed, June 10, 2009 - 6:06 pm CST

Serving an arrest warrant is dangerous work for sheriff's deputies. Now, deputies across the Gulf Coast are on alert after a Mobile County deputy was shot while executing an arrest warrant in the Fowl River community.

"Most of the time the person knows there's a warrant and knows he's going to jail," says Major Anthony Lowery with the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office. "A lot of times you'll find people that get the fight or flight mentality and unfortunately that leads to problems."

We followed Baldwin County deputies Andy Ashton and Nate Lamplugh to a house on the outskirts of Foley. The assignment? To serve a felony arrest warrant and take the fugitive into custody.

The deputies are always cautious. They approached the suspect, made a positive identification and immediately took the man into custody without incident.
In this case, the arrest and the warrant went smoothly, but there are times when things can get ugly for deputies in a matter of seconds.

"We haven't had any shots fired," says Lowery. "We've come very close, though. We've had a lot of physical altercations with people when we try and take them in."

Lowery says in most cases, two deputies are assigned to felony arrest warrants. In every warrant, deputies call dispatch and tell the communication officer their location in case there's trouble.

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