POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A Polk County sheriff’s deputy is recovering after being shot while in the line of duty in August and he now has a special connection to Sheriff Grady Judd.

Deputy Eric Lawes spent most of his teenage years living at the Lakewood Terrace apartment complex in Lakeland. He said he saw lots of bad stuff including open drug dealing, shootings, and huge fights. 

“You had about 100 people standing here. They started arguing. The next thing you know was a big brawl.”

But there was also good.

An inner-city ministry called The Dream Center started holding events at the complex for younger children. Lawes got involved as a volunteer leader and started thinking about his future, what he thought might be God’s plan for his life. 

At the same time, Lawes was becoming a big fan of Sheriff Judd. He liked the sheriff’s straight-talking ways about crime. Lawes was such a fan that he found a way to meet Judd after Judd spoke at a Lakeland church. Lawes got his picture taken with the sheriff and the experience changed his life. “I think at that moment it’s going to be my goal to be a deputy,” said Lawes.

About seven years ago Judd swore in Lawes as a deputy.

But then in August Lawes was injured when confronting a suspect with a homemade shotgun. The shotgun went off and both Lawes and the suspect were struck and injured. Lawes lost two fingers in the incident.

Lawes was featured as a success story recently during a fundraiser for The Dream Center. Sheriff Judd was a featured speaker at the fundraiser and told the audience that Lawes was his hero. 

Lawes and the sheriff got together in a sheriff’s office conference room recently and Judd got to talk to Lawes about his recovery. Lawes said he was really surprised when Judd had called him his hero. “It was inspiring because I look to him as you know — he’s the man.”

Sheriff Judd told Lawes that God must have more plans for him after surviving the shotgun blast. 

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