10 months ago
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KINGS COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The Kings County Sheriff's Office is celebrating their Tactical Flight Officer Sr. Deputy.
Eric Johnson, a Hanford native, won the Tactical Flight Officer of the Year grant astatine the yearly Airbourne Law Enforcement league successful Houston, Texas, among nominees passim the United States, Canada, and Europe.
"I'm ace excited that I was chosen. There's a lot, there's astir apt hundreds of radical that were conscionable arsenic qualified arsenic me. So, I'm conscionable truly excited that I was chosen," Johnson said.
He reflects connected the ngo helium is astir arrogant of, and 1 of the missions that got him nominated.
"A mid-80s man that, I accidental escaped, helium climbed retired of a window. He had dementia and climbed retired of a model of an assisted surviving facility. And we recovered him aggregate miles distant from the installation astatine nighttime successful the cold, laying look down successful a grape vineyard," Johnson said.
Johnson has worked astatine the Sheriff's Office for 19 years and has been a portion of its Air Support Unit since 2022.
His missions are carried retired connected some a chopper and a plane.
"When the guys connected the ground, officers, the females and males that are that are chasing these radical trust connected maine to assistance find them and get this idiosyncratic successful custody and marque this the assemblage safer is just, it's a blast," Johnson said.
Johnson is present grooming to get his ain pilot's license.
He hopes it volition marque the Kings County Sheriff's Office Air Support Unit much versatile.
"Sometimes we person a telephone retired successful the mediate of the nighttime erstwhile the airplane is not disposable and determination mightiness beryllium a tactical formation serviceman available, but nary aviator available. So if I'm a pilot, I tin leap successful the airplane and fundamentally assistance implicit the mission. That wouldn't person been completed if I didn't person my license," Johnson said.
Sr. Deputy Johnson hopes helium volition person his pilot's licence astatine the opening of adjacent year.
