Illustration: a type of bullet-proof vest

 

By Frank Phillips/DLC Media News

BRAZIL-The Clay County Council added their blessing to Sheriff Brison Swearingen’s request to apply for a grant to help pay for bullet proof vests for the County Sheriff’s Department during their meeting Monday night.

The federal Department of Justice Grant will pay $1,500 or half of the $3,000 each vest costs.

Emergency Management Director Rob Gambill said in the last eight years there have been several incidents where Clay County Deputies have been fired on or have had to discharge their weapons at others. In one incident, Sheriff Brison Swearingen was shot in the leg, though a bullet-proof vest would not have helped him in that situation.

Swearingen applied a tourniquet to his own leg after he was shot.

The Bullet Proof Vest Partnership Grant “is a really good deal for the county,” said Gambill, who is a retired Deputy.