April Enforcement Staff Members of the Month
- By Robin Brown
- Posted Friday, May 24, 2024
Deputy J. Lassiter.
Deputy J. Lassiter is a School Resource Officer who is currently assigned to Parkland High School. On April 15, 2024, Deputy Lassiter was notified that a teacher had been assaulted by a student in a classroom. Upon arrival at the classroom, he made contact with the teacher. Deputy Lassiter first made sure the teacher was not injured and needed medical assistance. Deputy Lassiter began completing a thorough investigation and ultimately obtained a secure custody order for the juvenile suspect. This incident gained national attention due to the totality of the assault on the teacher. Deputy Lassiter presented his case to the Grand Jury for possible felony indictments relating to this case.
The relationships Deputy Lassiter has built within Parkland High School with the students, faculty, and staff helped expedite this case. Deputy Lassiter is an asset to the Sheriff’s Office, the School Resource Division, and all the students/faculty at Parkland High School.
Investigator M. Norwood.
On April 18, 2024, at approximately 6:30 AM, the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office was notified that there was a bomb threat at Parkland High School that had been received via Instagram. Investigator M. Norwood was to begin the investigation into the threat. Investigator Norwood was able to quickly learn the threats originated outside of the United States and determined that there did not appear to be an imminent threat to the faculty or students at Parkland High School. As the on-call/second shift supervisor in the Criminal Investigations Section during the week of April 21, 2024, Investigator Norwood would typically begin his workday at 3:00 PM. During that week, there were four school shooting threats. Investigator Norwood, while managing his already heavy caseload, dropped what he was doing to assist the School Resource Division in whatever way possible to ensure the safety of the students/staff and ultimately the citizens of Forsyth County. Given the high priority of keeping the youth of Forsyth County safe, Investigator Norwood adjusted his schedule at a moment’s notice to come on duty to begin working on the multitude of school threats. Through Investigator Norwood’s knowledge, commitment, teamwork, and unmatched work ethic he was able to identify two of the suspects that communicated the threats to our schools and filed juvenile petitions for each. It should be noted that Investigator Norwood was able to identify, interview, obtain confessions, and charge via Juvenile Petitions all of the threats that occurred during the week of April 21, 2024. Investigator Norwood demonstrates an unwavering pursuit of justice and dedication to ensuring the safety of the citizens of Forsyth County.
Sergeant E. Gaylor.
On April 19, 2024, Sgt. E. Gaylor responded to a residence about a citizen’s 33-year-old son experiencing a mental crisis. The reporting party requested someone who is trained in dealing with persons going through a mental crisis. While we could not guarantee this would happen, it worked out that Sgt. Gaylor responded who happens to be the team leader of our Crisis Negotiator Team. The situation was handled and no further issues arose. The father took the time to call Sgt. Gaylor the next day and left a message thanking him for being able to defuse the situation. The father went on to say that the next evening, his son was a little agitated but was behaving better and not having a crisis as he did before. The father appeared to have followed Sgt. Gaylor’s advice helped the way he interacted with his son. Along with the citizen, the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office is very thankful and proud of Sgt. Gaylor for his outstanding work, not only as a supervisor but also as a Crisis Negotiator. As always, Sgt. Gaylor did a very fine job with how he handled this call.
Sergeant S. Carter, Deputy B. Gatewood & Deputy R. Shaw.
On April 28, 2024, while working overtime, Sergeant S. Carter, along with Deputy B. Gatewood and Deputy R. Shaw assisted North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP) with a vehicle pursuit. NCSHP advised they were attempting to stop a vehicle for moving violations. During the pursuit, NCSHP was able to stop the vehicle and began making verbal contact with the driver. As NCSHP was giving verbal commands, Sergeant Carter, Deputy Gatewood, and Deputy Shaw arrived on the scene and assisted with making verbal contact with the driver. The driver exited the vehicle and surrendered to authorities. During the course of the investigation, a vehicle search was conducted. During the search, a bloody fingerprint was located along with a handgun with blood on it and long blonde hair stuck to it. The firearm appeared to have been used to possibly “pistol whip” someone. The investigation also revealed that the driver had rented the vehicle in Georgia, drove straight to Stokes County where he went to Hanging Rock State Park, and signed the hiking log as “Die, Die, Die, Die.” Due to the evidence found in the car and the hiking log signed by the driver, these Deputies assisted in the apprehension of what could be a homicide suspect. North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and NCSP took over the case.
