Police Officer
Russell Anthony George
Ball Police Department, Louisiana
End of Watch: Sunday, June 26, 2011
Biographical Info
Age: 47
Tour of Duty: 18 years
Badge Number: BL-4
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Automobile accident
Date of Incident: June 26, 2011
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Agency Contact Information
Ball Police Department
100 Municipal Drive
Ball, LA 71405
Phone: (318) 640-4673
Officer Russell George was killed in an automobile accident while responding to a call for assistance from another officer from his department at approximately 2:50 am.
He was traveling south on US Highway 165 when his patrol car collided with an abandoned bicycle that was located in the roadway. After colliding with the bicycle, Officer George lost control of his patrol car, left the roadway and collided with several trees. The collision with the trees caused his patrol car become engulfed in flames. Officer George died at the scene.
Officer George was a U.S. Army veteran and had served with the Ball Police Department for 18 years. He is survived by his wife, daughter, two step-daughters, mother, and four siblings.
Louisiana State Police are investigating the early Sunday morning death of a Ball police officer in a fiery car crash on U.S. Highway 165.
Officer Russell A. George was traveling southbound on U.S. 165 around 2:50 a.m. Sunday, "responding to a call for assistance by another Ball P.D. unit," according to the State Police fatality report of the accident.
George’s 2009 Ford Crown Victoria, which was just north of the intersection of U.S. 165 and La. Highway 623, struck a bicycle that was lying unoccupied in the inside lane of the highway, causing George to lose control of his vehicle.
The vehicle then began to spin in a "clockwise rotation," the fatality report states, traveling off the right side of the road and through a ditch.
At that point, the driver’s side of the police car struck several trees, came to rest and caught on fire.
George, 47, was unable to escape from the burning vehicle and was pronounced dead on the scene after other authorities arrived.
The official primary cause of the officer’s accident was listed as "object in roadway," according to the fatality report.
No further information on the accident was available on Sunday.
Ball police Chief Danny Caldwell declined to comment on the situation, referring all questions to State Police spokeman Scott Moreau.
Moreau delayed the release of the George’s name for several hours in order to notify the officer’s next of kin.
Caldwell, who was elected last October and has only been on the job as head of the Ball Police Department for about seven months, became choked up when asked about the officer’s death Sunday afternoon. He said he wouldn’t be releasing a statement "at this time."
Ball interim Mayor Roger Toney said Sunday afternoon that town officials are respecting State Police’s request that no comments be made until after the investigation into the officer’s death is complete.
"It’s a very tragic event, and we’ll wait until the State Police findings are finished," Toney said.
"Our heart goes out to the family. We’re doing the best we can for the family and the fellow officers."
Remembering the fallen 
Peace Officers
When the Lord was creating peace officers, he was into his sixth day of
overtime when an angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling
around on this one.”
And the Lord said, “Have you read the spec on this order?
A peace officer has to be able to run five miles through alleys in the
dark, scale walls, enter homes the health inspector wouldn’t touch, and
not wrinkle his uniform.
“He has to be able to sit in an undercover car all day on a stakeout,
cover a homicide scene that night, canvass the neighborhood for witnesses,
and testify in court the next day.
“He has to be in top physical condition at all times, running on black
coffee and half-eaten meals. And he has to have six pairs of hands.”
The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands… no way.”
“It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” said the Lord, “it’s
the three pairs of eyes an officer has to have.”
“That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel.
The Lord nodded. One pair that sees through a bulge in a pocket before he
asks, “May I see what’s in there, sir?” (When he already knows and wishes
he’d taken that accounting job.) “Another pair here in the side of his
head for his partners’ safety. And another pair of eyes here in front
that can look reassuringly at a bleeding victim and say, ‘You’ll be all
right ma’am’, when he knows it isn’t so.”
“Lord,” said the angel, touching his sleeve, “rest and work on this
tomorrow.”
“I can’t,” said the Lord, “I already have a model that can talk a 250
pound drunk into a patrol car without incident and feed a family of five
on a civil service paycheck.”
The angel circled the model of the peace officer very slowly, “Can it
think?” she asked.
“You bet,” said the Lord. “It can tell you the elements of a hundred
crimes; recite Miranda warnings in its sleep; detain, investigate, search,
and arrest a gang member on the street in less time than it
takes five learned judges to debate the legality of the stop… and still
it keeps its sense of humor.
This officer also has phenomenal personal control. He can deal with crime
scenes painted in hell, coax a confession from a child abuser, comfort a
murder victim’s family, and then read in the daily paper how
law enforcement isn’t sensitive to the rights of criminal suspects.”
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the
peace officer. “There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told you that you
were trying to put too much into this model.”
“That’s not a leak,” said the Lord, “it’s a tear.”
“What’s the tear for?” asked the angel.
“It’s for bottled-up emotions, for fallen comrades, for commitment to that
funny piece of cloth called the American flag, for justice.”
“You’re a genius,” said the angel.
The Lord looked somber. “I didn’t put it there,” he said.
Anonymous
beautiful. Thank you
I hired Russell George as an officer for the North Slope Borough Police Dept in Barrow, Alaska in 2001. “Roscoe” and I became friends, and I was privileged to become friends with this very fine (and immensely funny) police officer. I mourn the loss of a brother in blue.
Jon Owen
Palmer Alaska