Veteran deputy drowns saving swimmers off Gulf Coast in Alabama. ‘Most heroic thing’
A deputy who drowned trying to save swimmers in distress off the coast of Alabama was no stranger to putting the needs of others above his own, colleagues say.
Now, Bill Smith is being remembered as a true hero.
“Bill Smith did what Bill Smith always did,” Baldwin County Sheriff Huey Mack told WALA. “He saw the need to put his life on the line to save somebody else’s. And that’s what he did. He saved a life.”
Smith, 57, was one of two deputies who responded to reports of a swimmer in distress Sunday at a beach near Fort Morgan, about 20 miles west of Gulf Shores, according to the sheriff’s department. Authorities said there were at least three people who were struggling to stay afloat.
“The rescue attempt, all of the swimmers and both deputies, were drawn into deeper waters,” Mack said, according to Al.com. “This was possibly caused by rip current.”
Smith went under while aiding in the rescue and was pronounced dead at a hospital, WALA reported. A second deputy, identified as Sydney Wentworth, is expected to be OK after also being pulled from the water.
The swimmers were treated for non-life threatening injuries, the sheriff’s office said.
James Mardant, who worked alongside Smith when he headed the Weaver Fire Department, said the former fire chief acted as a mentor and father figure to him. Mardant told WXIA he isn’t surprised by Smith’s final act of service, but is “completely devastated by the outcome.”
“The part that makes me feel better about it is knowing what he did,” Mardant said, according to the news station. “That he saved that person’s life. That’s the only thing I can hang onto. That’s the most heroic thing I would ever know.”
Smith had been with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office for seven years and was a retired firefighter who served more than 25 years with the Dekalb Fire Rescue Department in Dekalb County, Georgia. He retired as deputy chief of operations for the department in 2011 before joining the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office in northern Alabama, according to fire officials.
“Bill positively impacted the community he served and the firefighters he worked with,” Dekalb County Fire Chief Darnell Fullum said in a statement. “He’s fondly remembered in our department for his passion and dedication to the fire service and the resolute protection he gave to the citizens of DeKalb County.”
Tributes have continued to pour in for Smith on social media. The veteran deputy was also honored with a procession Tuesday morning in Baldwin County.
This story was originally published June 8, 2021 at 9:23 AM with the headline "Veteran deputy drowns saving swimmers off Gulf Coast in Alabama. ‘Most heroic thing’."