Franklin County Deputies Honor Anniversary of Deputy Thomas’ Death

Franklin County Sheriff’s Deputies pay tribute to a fallen comrade over the Memorial Day holiday by doing what they believe he would have done.

Last Thursday was the one year anniversary of the death of Franklin/Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputy Cruz Thomas, the son of Franklin County Sheriff Stevie Thomas.

Thomas said the day was marked quietly by his fellow officers.

“Last Thursday night marked the year Deputy Cruz Thomas lost his life,” Thomas said. “The deputies wanted to do something to honor Cruz so we met in a meeting and had a briefing.”

After the prayer, deputies launched a special Memorial Day weekend initiative in Deputy Thomas’ memory called Operation 612.

612 was Deputy Cruz’s badge number.

Thomas said that initiative resulted in getting a lot of unsafe motorists off the roads over the Memorial Day holiday.

“We lit the Interstate up for him and had several checkpoints in the County to begin our holiday weekend. We did this as a special Operation 612 and did what he would have wanted to do to begin the holiday,” Thomas said.

For the weekend, Thomas said deputies made 12 drug arrests, six DUI’s, nine license suspensions, one reckless driving and 39 other traffic citations.

Deputy Thomas was killed on the night of May 21 2014 while in pursuit of traffic violator on I-85 when a box truck suddenly cut in front him in the left lane, causing him to lose control of his vehicle.

Earlier this month, Deputy Thomas’ name was engraved on the National Police Memorial in Washington DC during a special ceremony honoring law enforcement officers nationwide who died in the line of duty in 2014.