Brian Palmer

Brian Palmer gets ready for his last day in his patrol car, while waiting for his new ghost ride to arrive.

STORY & PHOTOS BY JILL HOLLOWAY

The calm in a storm

Georgia State Patrol Trooper Brian Palmer has faced some of the toughest calls while working at GSP, but also experienced the highs that come with it.

Georgia State Patrol Trooper Brian Palmer loves serving the community and helping people. While the calls sometimes “make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up,” there is nothing he would rather be doing, as his service in law enforcement has allowed him to experience some amazing things.

Palmer is the fi rst in his family to join law enforcement. He was originally inspired by his friends, who seemed to really love the profession.

“My friend (Pat Trolinger) was working at Bainbridge Public Safety, and I had some friends I had talked to at Florida Highway Patrol, and I thought hey I may really enjoy that,” Palmer recounted.

Palmer then joined BPS, where he knew he had found his calling.

“I like being able to go to people in need during their worst of worst days,” he said. “I like trying to be that calm to their storm.”

During his time at BPS, Palmer experienced some memorable cases, especially ones involving the lives of children.

In 2008, Palmer got a call early on a Wednesday morning in reference to a house fi re.

“Me and Marvin Knight and Jeff Kelley were the fi rst ones there, and the call said a small child was entrapped,” Palmer recounted. “Me and Marvin Knight suited up and I located a 2-year child, who had buried herself in the back of the house in a basket of clothes.”

Palmer was able to pick up the child safely, run her out of the house and pass her on to Dr. Wilson, who was on scene.

Palmer said she was then fl own to a burn center and is doing fi ne today.

When Palmer began working at Georgia State Patrol, he responded to multiple accidents. However, he said there are some he can never forget.

One of those is the accident involving young Remington Walden, where Palmer was fi rst on scene.

“Not only was that one of my best friend’s son, but I was kin to him,” Palmer said. “It was a very traumatic experience.”

While the job can be tough at times such as these, it has also provided Palmer with amazing experiences, such as being part of the Secret Service detail for former Vice President Mike Pence, when he visited Bainbridge following Hurricane Michael.

“I was the lead car for his detail,” Palmer said. “I had the lead sniper and the lead security detail with me.”

Prior to Pence’s visit, Palmer had to map out how they would get Pence from point A to point B, where he would park his vehicle and work with the vehicle in front of him, who was the PIT car, in case anyone tried to harm Pence.

Palmer said one of the most interesting things was hearing the lead sniper talk on the radio and hearing where snipers were located throughout the county on the way to FRM.

“It was probably one of the most exciting things I’ve done,” Palmer said. “I got to meet him and he was nothing like I thought he might be; he was very down-to-earth.”

In addition to the excitement of meeting the Vice President, Palmer was also excited to receive a life-saving award once.

He was in a chase that began in Cairo and spanned through Bainbridge, before the suspect was stopped by a PIT maneuver in Miller County.

“He overdosed by eating a Fentanyl patch when I stopped him, so I hit him with six rounds of NARCAN (a nasal spray used to treat a suspected narcotic overdose) before EMS got there,” Palmer said.

Due to Palmer’s actions, the suspect survived and was transferred to Archbold, where he was later put on a NARCAN drip for fi ve days.

While this chase resulted in a positive outcome for everyone, that’s not always the case.

“There are defi nitely times when the hairs on the back of my next stand up,” Palmer said. “I think if there’s ever a day it doesn’t for someone, then they’ve gotten way too comfortable.”

Palmer shared a story about a routine traffi c stop that happened just days prior to his interview.

“I stopped a car and the last thing the guy said to me was ‘All I’ve got is my gun,’ but then he went for “an itch” and the fi ght was on,” Palmer said. “Luckily the gun was not in his waistband and I was able to pin him until Darren Heard got to me.”

A few years back, Palmer was involved in another chase that turned into shots fi red.

“They started shooting at me, but I had BPS and other Troopers with me,” he said. “We were eventually able to fi nd all three of the suspects after they bailed out of their car; we got the helicopter out and found them the next morning.”

Despite this terrifying encounter, Palmer said he knows working in law enforcement is still what he wants to do and encourages others to consider joining the “Brothers in Blue.”

“It’s a different world than it was when I joined, so people who do want to join, my hat goes off to them, but I encourage them, because we are losing a lot of good offi cers due to retirement and medical,” Palmer ended. “If someone wants to get this in profession today, though your heart and mind has to be in it, because it is a different day and time than it was 10 or 20 years ago.”