Deputy Richard (Ricky) Palocsik,

On July 4, 2016 at approximately 1715 hours, Deputy Richard Palocsik and Deputy William Jarrett, while patrolling in the Sheriff's Office boat, were dispatched to a suicidal person in the middle of the Savannah River. Upon arrival, they observed a male subject in the water yelling for them to shoot him. They also saw Deputy Ryan Jones swimming from the shore with a life vest on towards the subject. Deputy Ryan Jones got into the Sheriff’s Office boat with Deputies Palocsik and Jarrett. The deputies tried talking to the subject to encourage him to get out of the water, but the subject refused. A life jacket was thrown to the subject which he threw aside and multiple attempts were made to try and pull the subject into the boat. The subject was combative and refused multiple attempts to rescue him. DNR, who was on the scene by this time, threw a rope to the subject. The subject then tied the rope around his neck and dived under the boat. Seeing this, Deputy Jarrett and Deputy Jones dived into the water and then began to struggle with the subject to remove the rope from his neck. Deputy William Jarrett and Deputy Ryan Jones subdued the subject in the water and with assistance of Deputy Richard Palocsik, removed the subject from the water and placed the subject in the boat. The subject was then transported to GRU hospital.

Deputy Richard Palocsik is a credit to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and the citizens of Augusta Richmond County.