Everything anybody wanted to know about Sgt. Mickey Hutchens of the Winston-Salem Police Department could be heard toward the end of a simple answering machine greeting at his Yadkin County church.
In case of an emergency, call Mickey Hutchens, a woman's voice said.
A deacon at Forbush Baptist Church, Hutchens was also a protector of his flock. If he wasn't on duty patrolling the streets of Winston-Salem, odds were good that he was tending to something at his church.
If something had gone awry, obviously Hutchens wanted to be among the first to know and first to react. He wanted to protect and to serve.
Mickey Hutchens died just before 7 p.m. last night at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, the result of a bullet wound he suffered six days ago in a ravine behind a fast-food restaurant on Peters Creek Parkway.
"Mickey sacrificed his life protecting the citizens of Winston-Salem," Chief Scott Cunningham said last night at a news conference. "His sacrifice was not in vain. He believed in what he was doing.
"He spent his life helping others."
Prayer for the best
Certainly Hutchens' death was not unexpected. Over the weekend, police officials solemnly passed word that his condition had taken a turn for the worse and asked the community to remember their fallen comrade in its prayers.
"Sgt. Hutchens died in the presence of his loving family and police friends," Cunningham said last night.
For that, we should be grateful.
As heartbreaking as it is to lose a
man who died from a wound suffered while serving his community, it should be a small measure of comfort that those closest to him were able to say their goodbyes and be with him to the end.
Throughout a long weekend, Hutchens was never far from the thoughts of colleagues -- men and women who know the same fate is possible for them and yet answer calls for help every single day.
Cunningham, who deserves congratulations for his strong public show of leadership during a crisis, said as much while taking a turn working a police department booth at
the Dixie Classic Fair. He had spent a good part
of his Sunday by Hutchens' bedside, and so he likely knew what lay ahead.
Prepare for the worst. Pray for the best.
When the news that police all feared came to pass, Cunningham wanted his officers to hear it first from him -- not via an Internet posting or a scroll across the bottom of a television screen.
Man of integrity
A veteran with more than 25 years in the department, Lt. Billy Riggs spoke highly of his friend when asked in conversation Sunday afternoon how Hutchens was faring.
"Mickey and I grew up in the department together," Riggs said. "If it was the right thing to do, then that's what Mickey would do. I've done some stupid things in my time, but Mickey never did anything stupid."
Hutchens was known around the department to be methodical, highly organized and efficient. If a question arose about a police procedure or general order, Riggs said, Hutchens likely knew the answer.
"I might know what it was, but I'd have to look it up," Riggs said. "Mickey, he knew. He didn't make mistakes."
Criminal-defense lawyers who had occasion to cross-examine Hutchens also praised his character even before they learned of his death.
Nils Gerber, a defense attorney from Winston-Salem, remembered a case years ago involving social workers and witnesses whose testimony might not have been a strength for the prosecution's case. Hutchens was called to testify against Gerber's client during the trial.
"I knew when Mickey testified that he was going to be thorough and extremely honest," Gerber said. "That's the type of person he was and jurors could see that in him.
"His integrity was unassailable and everybody knew it."
ssexton@wsjournal.com
(336) 727-7481
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