Grieving Kaufman County Grandfather Recognizes Constable for His Compassion During Family Tragedy

With overwhelming grief in his voice, Mr. John Sutton, a Kaufman County resident, explained to the Commissioners’ Court that on October 5, he called 911 because his six-month-old grandson had stopped breathing. Mr. Sutton said when paramedics arrived, the baby could not be revived, but he said the one thing that held him together in that moment was the compassion shown by Precinct 3 Kaufman County Deputy Constable Wade Bowden. Mr. Sutton said in that moment of unbearable grief, Deputy Bowden came up and offered up prayer with him.

“The Sheriff’s Department showed up, the ambulance showed up, but there was one person that stood out that took me to the side and prayed for me and helped me like I was his brother and I’d really like for y’all to recognize that officer for going above and beyond the call of duty,” Mr. Sutton said. “That’s not the protocol, but that officer (pausing and pointing to the officer in the back of the courtroom), y’all got a gem . . . y’all got a gem in that officer. He had my back at the darkest moment.”

Precinct 3 Commissioner Terry Barber thanked Mr. Sutton for coming before the court to acknowledge thanked Deputy Bowden and said, “I think that says a lot about the way that we try to do things in this county, our constables and our Sheriff’s office both. You know I have a lot of people call me, but you’re the first one who’s wanted to come up here and we appreciate that.”