Editor’s note: In January 2023, Jarred Javon Ford was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release for possession of a firearm by a felon. Ford’s attempted murder charges in state court ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury weeks after his 10-year sentence.
When Nash County Deputy Shelby Smith was asked in her entry-level interview, “Why do you want to be an officer?” She revealed her father was a substance abuser and it killed him. She reasoned that since she couldn’t save her father, she might have an opportunity to save other fathers, mothers, sons and daughters by becoming a police officer.
Spoiler alert: She was hired!
Deputy Shelby Smith has now been an officer since 2017 but has worked as a part of the Nash County (N.C.) Criminal Interdiction Team since 2018. She and her teammates, including Deputy William Toney and and his K-9 Chase, have been making proactive stops leading to apprehensions of many wanted suspects and impaired drivers.
The team has also discovered drugs, stolen property, weapons, cash and evidence of serious crimes. Smith and Toney shared a passion for removing dangerous people and substances from their community. Toney’s efforts led him to receive the prestigious “Hometown Hero Award” in 2018.
However, one of the dangers of proactive law enforcement is sometimes being proactive requires officers to have to suddenly become reactive.
The life-changing stop
On Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, between 9:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., Smith stopped a 2008 silver Mercedes on Interstate 95 near Rocky Mount, N.C. for a traffic violation.
The driver, Jarred Javon Ford, who smelled strongly of marijuana, was asked to step from the vehicle. As he walked back toward her, Smith spotted physical indicators that he was carrying a concealed weapon.
She had already called Toney to the scene of the stop to back her up. When the two deputies attempted a pat down for their own safety, Ford aggressively resisted, triggering a desperate struggle. Ford suddenly jerked out a Taurus 9mm semi-automatic handgun and opened fire, shooting Toney in both arms and the hip.
Toney found himself living every cop’s worst nightmare in real-time. He was in the middle of a gunfight and could not make either of his hands work to defend himself.
The reaction
As shots rang out, Smith applied a pre-trained response. She pushed off Ford, drew her Sig Sauer .357 duty weapon and returned fire. In an instant, both Smith and Ford were prone on the highway’s shoulder – engaged in a furious gun battle.
“I could feel his rounds hitting the ground near me and kicking up debris. The shots sounded like a nail gun going off,” Smith recalled.
After her opening volley, Smith log-rolled out of the line of fire to avoid being hit. After this maneuver, she got up to take cover, while she stayed low and managed to assist her badly wounded partner over to the squad’s engine block. Here, Smith performed an in-battery reload and carefully scanned the highway shoulder-turned-battleground. She could see Ford was now down and bleeding. She held cover.
“I could see his gun was within reach and I did not know whether or not he was pretending to be immobile just to draw me in,” she continued.
It was during this pause in the fight that she radioed for additional units, emergency medical services and waited for back-up.
As it turned out, Smith’s accurate fire under those dire circumstances had indeed put Ford down for the count.
Both Ford and Toney were transported to the hospital. Ford has since recovered from his wounds and, in August 2022, was convicted in federal court for a felon in possession of a firearm. His trial for attempted murder in state court is still pending.
Healing is slow and difficult
Since being wounded, Toney has bravely endured many surgeries and undergone ongoing painful physical therapy to recover from the damage done by Ford’s bullets.
To aid in Toney’s recovery, Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone arranged for Toney’s K-9 partner, Chase, to be at Toney’s side. Sheriff Stone followed up by requesting that the Nash County board retire Chase and turn him over to the care of the wounded deputy. They voted unanimously to retire Chase and presented him to Toney.
“We’re inseparable now. He’s definitely helped me through my injuries. He’s a therapy dog. He’s been really good for me. He picks me up on days when I’m not feeling my best or not being the person he’s used to being around. He keys in on that and acts silly like he wants to get in my lap,” Toney said.
Toney added that he still runs Chase through the drills he did when they were working together. Chase loves this and Toney said it picks him up as well.
Toney’s faith has helped him through these difficult days: “I definitely forgive the guy for the event that happened. I have forgiveness for him. I pray for him,” Toney said, adding that it was fortunate that no one died that day. “Under the circumstances, I feel like God has a plan for all three of us.”
Toney’s wounds are expected to prevent him from working as a street officer. That is a difficult thing to process for an officer, who truly loved what he was doing.
“My dream was to be a police officer and to be a K-9 officer and thank God I was able to see that. A lot of people don’t see their dreams come true,” Toney told CBS17.com.
Insights for other officers shared by Deputy Smith
Smith said she was prepared for this challenge by keeping herself in good physical condition and training with firearms seriously all her life. She credited her commander, Major Allen Wilson, who conducted realistic scenario training using Simunition shortly before this incident.
One scenario, played out exactly as the stop with Ford, required her to push off, draw and return fire just as she had to do to survive Ford’s deadly assault.
The most difficult aspect of the incident, however, was having her partner wounded so seriously: “There are no words to describe how that feels. It just sucks,” Smith said.
As far as having to use deadly force, she said, “I did what I had to do and what I was trained to do and I can live with that.”
When asked if she had any advice for officers that may have to face a similar challenge in the future, she thought for a bit and answered, “I have just two things to say":
- Always trust yourself. Trust your gut. If something feels like it’s not right, then it is not right.
- You always have to show up for yourself. When it comes right down to it, who cares more about your survival than you do?
For her actions, Smith was presented with the much-deserved “Hometown Hero Award” for saving another well-loved “Hometown Hero.” To deputies Smith and Toney, your courage makes us proud. May God continue to bless you both and keep you safe as you both continue in your own way to fight the good fight.
NEXT: ‘The night I was killed in the line of duty, but survived!’
