http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2015/03/pell_city_mourns_officer_who_d.html#incart_most-read_news_articleGreg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com By Greg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com
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on March 21, 2015 at 8:15 AM, updated March 21, 2015 at 8:32 AM
When Pell City Police Lt. Richard Woods arrived at the scene of an accident on Tuesday, the situation was tense.
A heavy utility truck had collided with a car carrying two teenage girls on their way to soccer practice. The mangled car slid down an embankment into a ravine with the utility truck on top of it. The girls were trapped inside.
Woods was the first responder on the scene. After checking on the girls and finding the doors wouldn't open, he called for help. A wrecker, ambulance and rescue workers were immediately summoned.
"He just took charge," said Pell City Police Corporal Jessie Burgos, one of the next two police officers on the scene. "He went down and said, 'We have two girls entrapped in the car.' The car was really mangled up and we couldn't open the doors. The faster we got the wrecker there, the faster we could get the cars apart. Time is valuable. He knew what to do."
Woods was able to pull the 15-year-old out of the passenger-side of the car, but the 16-year-old driver was still trapped. Woods checked for fuel leaks that could cause an explosion.
When rescue workers arrived with the Jaws of Life tool, Woods began to saw the roof off the car to get to the driver, who had a broken pelvis, lacerations and other injuries. "We were looking around making sure we didn't have fuel leaking," Burgos said. "He helped cut the whole top half of the car off. We were scared that the remaining airbags would deploy and hurt them worse. He was putting it where it needed to be so they did not set off the right-side airbags that didn't go off yet. I've worked in a body shop. The computer knows which airbags to set off. On the passenger side, the whole side airbag on the right side hadn't gone off."
Woods was working up a sweat. "The Jaws of Life are not light," Burgos said. "An average man working them for five minutes has got to give it up. It was a hot day. We try to help the fire department out; they've got that extra gear on."
Woods passed the Jaws of Life off to firefighters, and helped direct the cuts. "Normally only one man works it," Burgos said. "He held it a couple times, made a couple cuts. He did it two or three times and the fire department took over. He went back and told them, 'Cut here and cut here,' and we were able to get the roof off and get the driver out."
Woods then began assisting firefighters who were cutting trees and clearing out logs. "He had got off the Jaws of Life," Burgos said. "They had to clear a path to the ambulance."
Sgt. Don Newton had arrived on the scene too. "It was one of the more complicated rescues I've seen in 20 years," Newton said. "The driver was trapped. The utility truck hit on the driver's door. They were down an embankment. The gravity of the truck was going on a downward angle in the embankment. The car was underneath."
Woods was helping firefighters carry out sawed-down trees. "He had just hauled a piece of tree away," Newton said. "Firefighters had sawed them down. Nobody asked him to; he just jumped in."
That's when Woods began experiencing chest pains. "He sat down," Burgos said. "He said the pneumonia, the sinus infection was kicking his butt. They had the passenger in the ambulance by then."
Newton recognized that Woods was struggling. "I said, 'Are you okay? He said, 'I need help.' I grabbed a medic."
Woods, a former paramedic himself, was concerned that the paramedics were too focused on him. "He still turned and looked at the car, and told us to go help the girls," Burgos said. "Even to his last breath, he was concerned about the girls in that car."
Woods died March 17 of an apparent heart attack. He was 48. Woods was the second Pell City police officer to die while on duty in the past seven years. In 2008, Officer Greg Surles died when an 18-wheeler T-boned the police cruiser he was driving, Newton said.
"It's unexpected," Newton said. "We embrace the understanding that every day could be the last one when we walk out the door."
Woods had been in law enforcement for 20 years. He worked in the Riverside Police Department before joining the Pell City Police Department in 2005. "He started his public service career as a paramedic on an ambulance service," Newton said.
In December, Woods was promoted to lieutenant in the special operations unit. "He was extraordinarily dedicated to the job," said Newton. "He had a unique ability that when he arrested people, they respected him. He treated people with professionalism and courtesy. He mentored other officers."
Burgos agreed that even criminals liked Woods. "Most people he arrested, when he got them to the jail, they were joking and laughing, saying, 'That was a mistake, I'll never do that again.'"
Woods had a wife, Susan, and two sons, Cody, who was grown, and Jacob, 14, who lived at home. "They were constantly hunting, fishing, doing outdoor events," Newton said.
Woods was a supervisor to Burgos.
"He was a great teacher," Burgos said. "He made me the officer I am. Police-wise, he knew so much. He was passionate about it. This job is a calling. He had a servant's heart. That's the way you want to go out. You want to go out helping and saving people."
Woods' last day on the job exemplified his attitude. "He's not going to stop until the job's done," Newton said.
"He was the picture of an officer that everybody tried to be," Burgos said. "We were all a family. He taught us how to do things. We lost a piece of our family."
Woods worked in the canine unit, did drug intradiction, oversaw the marine police, the dive and rescue team and security for the Fourth of July fireworks.
Often while on duty he had his loyal German shepherd Johnny with him.
"He was a certified dog handler," Newton said. "They would take him to the schools. It established a rapport with the kids."
Burgos, a school resource officer, said Johnny was a big hit when Woods brought him to schools.
"He's a big dog," Burgos said. "He's got paws the size of our hands. We were about ready to retire Johnny. He's 9 or 10 years old. He was going to live with Richard. Richard loved that dog. He was a family dog, but he knew the minute he jumped in the SUV it was time to go to work."
Johnny sniffed out a lot of drugs that led to arrests. "There was on traffic stop, Richard pulled Johnny out, he stopped at the trunk, and there was marijuana in the back," Burgos said. "They made a bunch of cases."
Johnny will now likely retire from police work and live with the Woods family, Borgos said. "Johnny was at the funeral," Burgos said. "You can tell he was missing his dad."
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