Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 31, 1990 TAG: 9007310087
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV7 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Fleet and another deputy from Suffolk County were given certificates by Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, who commended them for their work on the "front lines" of law enforcement.
"You're the ones who have the courage to look death in the face. You make the sacrifice for your families and for 6 million Virginians," Beyer said at last Wednesday's ceremony, "and we thank you for putting yourself and your body in the line of action for us."
Fleet, 34, thanked Sheriff Louis Barber and his family.
"I'm very lucky to be here today," he told a crowd of several hundred deputies and sheriffs from around the state.
Fleet returned to work last week.
The 13-year police veteran was shot June 6 after he and another deputy, Lloyd Heslip, knocked at the door of a house in Ironto to serve an eviction notice on Jerry Ray Brandau.
The occupants of the house would not open the door and when Fleet tried to force the door open, someone inside fired eight rifle shots through the door.
One of the .22 caliber bullets struck Fleet in the neck, less than an inch from a major artery.
Brandau, 26, of Elliston, was arrested and charged with attempted capital murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He was released on $150,000 bond and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Fleet spent a night in Radford Community Hospital and missed a few weeks of work.
But he was back on the job last Thursday, working as a bailiff in the courtroom of Montgomery County General District Court in Blacksburg.
by CNB