County deputy dies after medical emergency

SMITH COUNTY – Law enforcement agencies across East Texas are mourning the loss of a Smith County Sheriff’s Office Deputy after he unexpectedly died on duty during a medical emergency on Tuesday.

According to our news partner KETK, and the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, 53-year old Gerald Rhey Atchison Jr. was working on duty as a property and evidence technician when he collapsed due to a medical event.

Other law enforcement personnel immediately begin life saving measures, including CPR. Paramedics arrived to assist and continue life saving measures as Atchison was unresponsive. He was then transported to the emergency room, where he was pronounced dead by medical personnel, the sheriff’s office said.

At this time, it is believed that Atchison suffered a massive coronary event, the sheriff’s office said.

Atchison had been employed with the sheriff’s office in September 2003 as a detention officer in the jail. He graduated from Tyler Junior College’s Police Academy in 2005, obtaining his Peace Officer License and eventual promoted to the Patrol Division.

Over the course of his career, Atchison served as a detention officer, patrol deputy, criminal investigator, telecommunications operator and most recently a property and evidence technician.

“Deputy Atchison leaves behind his wife and son who are devastated by this sudden and unexpected passing of their husband and father,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release. “We ask that you keep the Atchison family and the men and women of the Smith County Sheriff’s Office in your thoughts and prayers.”