# Georgia Inmate Thanks Officer For Saving Life



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*JOHN GHIRARDINI*
_The Atlanta Journal-Constitution_










Gwinnett Detention Center inmate William Tyree is nursing a gunshot wound and faces nine felony and 10 traffic charges --- and he's grateful to police.

He's grateful that Suwanee police Detective Shane Edmisten saved his life.

The 12-year officer, who arrested the Newnan native after a high-speed chase last week, stanched the bleeding from a .38-caliber bullet wound in Tyree's right leg that barely missed the femoral artery.

"I thought I was going to die," Tyree, 33, said Thursday in a jailhouse interview. "I thought I was gone. I'll always credit that man with saving my life."

Tyree and Edmisten crossed paths on April 28. Suwanee police say Tyree robbed a Cracker Barrel restaurant on Gwinco Boulevard at gunpoint about 2 p.m., then commandeered a burgundy Ford Crown Victoria in the parking lot.

No other injuries were reported.

Responding officers from Suwanee and Gwinnett County chased the Ford on I-85 north at speeds approaching 100 mph as the Crown Vic used the emergency lane to pass slower-moving cars.

Police say Tyree hijacked another car, a Chrysler 300, at a QuikTrip gas station at Hamilton Mill Road and Ga. 124 and took off again. At that point, a Braselton officer joined the chase.

The Chrysler finally stopped, and police say Tyree went to the ground as ordered but told Edmisten he had been shot and was bleeding to death. The blood was running down his leg.

Edmisten grabbed a first-aid kit from a uniformed officer's car, snapped on rubber gloves, used a knife to cut Tyree's shorts open and applied pressure to the wound until paramedics arrived.

Edmisten said he and Tyree talked while waiting for the paramedics as he tried to keep the wounded man calm.

"He basically told me everything that happened" during the eventful day, Edmisten said.

"He was moaning and groaning and screaming, and then he stopped," Edmisten said. "He said, 'What's your name?' It took me by surprise, I told him 'Shane.' It's like he wanted to know me personally. It was weird the way he stopped in mid-pain."

On Thursday, Tyree got emotional when describing the experience and Edmisten's role in it.

"I'd like to thank him. He would have been the one holding me when I died or saved my life, one or the other," Tyree said as his eyes welled with tears. "He knows it, and I know it. He was as scared as I was, but he stayed with me."

"I knew that in his mind I might be the last person he ever saw. I'm glad he didn't die in my arms," Edmisten said. "I don't care who it is, I don't want to have anyone die in my arms."

Tyree said he had "no clue" how the gun --- a .38-caliber revolver --- accidentally discharged.

"I heard a pop and saw a hole in my shorts," he said. "Within seconds, blood was all the way down my leg. There was blood everywhere in the car."

Tyree, who will have his first court appearance today, was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center, where the bullet was removed Friday.

He also credited other officers on the scene for maintaining their professionalism despite the adrenaline surge after the chase.

"They didn't kick me, they didn't stomp me, after all the trouble I'd given them," he said. "I've never had a near-death experience.

"I've got a second chance in my life."

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## BrickCop (Dec 23, 2004)

Ok let's see how much nationwide media coverage this story gets in comparison to a cop accused of brutality. :NO:


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## Andy0921 (Jan 12, 2006)

yeah i was thinking the same thing BrickCop.


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